And That Should Impress Me Why?
by Lil Drop Of Magic
Summary: AU World famous actor Draco Malfoy is sick of all the chick flick roles he is famed for & eager to prove that he is capable of Oscar worthy performances. Hermione Granger, however, is completely unimpressed with the showbiz star when he tries to court her
1. Looking for Trouble

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter world 

This is a total AU, with no magic, no Hogwarts and no Voldemort destroying people's lives, which means that everyone is alive such as James, Lily and Sirius etc.

* * *

Chapter 1 – Looking for trouble 

Hermione twisted the key in the lock of her apartment and pushed the door open. A rush of welcome warmth enveloped her as she stepped inside her hallway. She deposited her extremely heavy bag on to the floor with a quick sigh and kicked off her heels as they were killing her.

She'd just hung her coat and scarf up on a peg when she noticed that a light on her phone was bleeping to show that she had a new message. She pressed the play button and leant against the wall massaging her feet while she listened to the robotic voice drone out of the machine.

"You have three new messages. Message one."

"Hello Hermione dear it's your mother. I just rang to remind you that it's your Nana's birthday on Wednesday so don't forget to send her a card in time and she does so love to hear from you, so it'll probably be best if you write her a long letter about how you are getting on and such. Speak to you soon. Don't Forget! Bye"

"Don't worry mum I won't forget," Hermione sighed as the machine prattled off the time of her mother's call.

"Message two."

"Hello Miss Granger. This is Carl from Discovery Prizes. I am calling you to let you know that you have been randomly selected from our draw to win our competition…"

"Oh yes! Which competition is that then?" Hermione asked angrily, "the one I have no recollection of entering. Bloody salesmen!" She growled as she pressed the delete button.

"Message deleted. Message two."

Hermione leant against the wall again and closed her eyes.

"Hey 'Mione. It's Ginny."

Hermione's eyes snapped open. Ginny _never_ called her unless something was really wrong.

"Sorry to call you on a Friday- I know you like your weekends to be hassle free but I…Erm…Ok it's me and Rick. It's over. It was a mutual thing. We just don't have that same connection anymore-"

"Oh no," breathed Hermione as she stopped the message and quickly dialled Ginny's number, waiting impatiently for Ginny to pick up.

"Hi Gin, it's 'Mione."

"Oh" _sniff_ "Hi Hermione."

Ginny spoke only three words but Hermione could tell that her friend had been crying.

"I'll be round in ten minutes- actually better make it fifteen. You know what London traffic is like at this time of day! I'll see you soon Gin. Bye"

She put down the phone and quickly put her coat and scarf back on. She went to put on her shoes but decided that her feet had suffered too much for one day and hurriedly scampered to her room to find a more comfortable pair before running back out of her apartment.

* * *

"So I met him this morning for coffee, we talked about things and in the end we both agreed. It's for the best I suppose but still, why does it have to hurt so much?" Ginny blew her nose loudly then wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. 

"Oh Ginny," Hermione said sympathetically pulling her into a hug. She hated seeing Ginny upset. They had been friends ever since Ginny had started attending Watchling's Boarding School. Hermione been in the year above Ginny, who was the younger sister of Hermione's best friend Ron Weasley, who had also attended the same school along with Hermione's other best friend Harry Potter.

Hermione pulled herself away from Ginny's embrace and looked straight into her red puffy eyes. "Well crying over it isn't going to do you any good Gin. You know what you need?" Ginny blinked away some more tears and shook her head slightly.

"A good night out."

Ginny grimaced.

"I don't know Mione. I'm really not in the mood. I just feel like sitting here and watching a load of soppy romance films to make me feel worse while eating a load of chocolate and drinking a lot of wine."

Hermione looked horrified at the idea and pulled Ginny to her feet.

"Absolutely not! I'm not going to let you sit here and drown your sorrows! Just think of all the great guys out there you can meet now that you're single again. You said yourself that you lost that connection with Rick well now you get it again with someone else and this time, you never know, that feeling could last forever if you meet the right guy!"

"I suppose so," said Ginny not very enthusiastically.

"I'll tell you what-we could try out Seamus' place. I keep meaning to go and check it out and now we've got a reason- to find you a new man! It's supposed to be an amazing club from what I've heard. Very popular among the celebs apparently but Seamus always said we'd be welcome there. You never know, you could meet some big Hollywood superstar there! How good would that be huh?" Hermione's cheery optimism was starting to have an effect on Ginny.

She smiled a watery smile, "Ok."

* * *

'Creative' was the hottest new club in London and was owned by Seamus Finnigan, a former classmate of Hermione and Ginny. Anyone who was anybody had been seen in there over the last few weeks from actresses to musicians, sports stars to politicians. If you weren't on the V.I.P list then you were going to have a tough chance getting in. Luckily fame and fortune hadn't gone to Seamus' head and he still remembered his friends from school and Hermione and Ginny had no problems getting in. 

They quickly located the bar and Hermione got them both drinks. It was extremely noisy inside the club but they managed to find themselves a quieter corner where they could at least hear each other without shouting.

"Wow. This place is amazing! It's so busy in here."

"I know Gin! I can't believe this is Seamus' club. He must be absolutely loaded!"

"You bet I am 'Mione!" cried a male voice behind them. Hermione and Ginny span around.

"Seamus!"

"Hey girls!" He said in his thick Irish accent. "You both look absolutely stunning," he complimented them giving each of them a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Seamus. This place is incredible! Where did you get all the money to launch a club like this?" asked Ginny

"Won it!" he replied, "luck of the Irish an' all that." They all laughed.

"So Seamus," said Hermione taking a sip of her drink, "which celebs have you got in tonight? I hear that they just flock to this place."

"Not so many tonight. We've got a couple of lads from Man United football club, some singer who I've never heard of but's apparently really good and oh yeah, Draco Malfoy!"

Ginny choked on her drink.

"Draco Malfoy! The Hollywood superstar? No way! I thought he lived in L.A now." Ginny looked at Seamus completely stunned.

"He does but he's shooting some new film back here in London. I'm surprised that you haven't spotted him already. He's over there surrounded by all those girls." Seamus pointed to the opposite end of the club. Hermione followed his finger and sure enough there was the attractive blond actor that she'd seen on the front of magazines and film posters. He was laying on a big couch with lots of beautiful, scantily clad women pouring all over him while he talked to them.

"Oh my God Hermione! Draco Malfoy! Can you believe it? Let's go talk to him!" exclaimed Ginny as she smoothed down her dress subconsciously.

"Woah there Gin. You're not serious are you? I mean look at him surrounded by all those women."

"Oh come on Hermione you know I don't go after blonds. I'm a tall, dark and handsome sorta girl. It's just that I've never been near someone so famous before!"

"I wouldn't get so excited over him Ginny," warned Seamus. "He seemed a bit of an arrogant sod to me."

"Why am I not surprised?" said Hermione dryly while Ginny looked slightly put out.

"He walked in here like he owned the place with his entourage and everything then he told them all to get lost. But his manager's still here somewhere. I don't know how he puts up with him. Believe me, when you've met as many celebs as I have you get to tell the good from the bad straight away. He seems the sort who's got everything his own way ever since he's been born."

Hermione looked over at Draco Malfoy and saw all the women laughing at some joke that he'd told and couldn't help but feel like she agreed with everything Seamus had said.

Seamus looked at his watch, "Argh! Is that the time! I'm sorry girls, I've got a million things to do. It was really great to see you again. I hope you have a great night. If you need anything just say I said it was ok." He gave both a hug and a kiss goodbye then disappeared into the dancing crowd.

"Right then," said Hermione downing her drink, "we need to find you someone. Now."

Ginny looked at her slightly apprehensively but then nodded and finished her drink too.

They placed their empty glasses on a nearby table then walked onto the dance floor. They danced there in the middle of the club, both looking around at all the happy faces, trying to find a suitable candidate while bright lights flashed all around them.

They had been dancing for only a few minutes when Hermione noticed a man leaning against a stairwell that led upstairs to another part of the club. He was staring moodily at the dancing crowd and did not look pleased to be there at all. Hermione couldn't see him too well as he was standing out of reach of the colourful lights but she just had this unexplainable feeling that he was who they were looking for.

She turned back to Ginny, tapped the younger girl on the arm to get her attention and pointed towards the bar. She nodded and they both tried to fight their way through the mass of people.

"You've found someone then?" asked Ginny as they took seats at the bar.

"I think so. He's standing against those stairs near that big mirror."

"Where?"

Hermione pointed to the stranger on the other side of the club who was still looked thoroughly moody.

Ginny stood up slightly from her bar stool so that she could see who Hermione had pointed out. Hermione watched her face as she spotted him and saw a frown appear there.

"He looks incredibly grumpy 'Mione."

"I know, but what was it you said to me a few minutes ago- tall, dark and handsome? Well, he fits all three descriptions perfectly." Hermione looked over to the guy again as she said this. She could see him a lot more clearly from here and noted that he had striking dark eyes and neat black hair. He was extremely attractive and Hermione wondered why he looked so miserable.

"You're certainly not wrong there," Ginny breathed as she continued to stare at him, "but he doesn't really look like he's in the mood for talking to anyone tonight."

"Well have you seen anyone else who you've been even slightly tempted by?"

"No, not really-"

"Then it's worth a go isn't it? And if he blows you off then he's obviously an idiot for not wanting to get to know a beautiful, intelligent, vivacious woman such as yourself!"

Ginny smiled at her and Hermione took this as a positive confirmation and called to the waiter.

"How can I help you luv?" asked the waiter, throwing a towel over his shoulder.

"Could I have some tap water in a wine glass please?" asked Hermione giving him a radiant smile.

"Course you can. Coming right up."

Ginny scowled at her.

"What?" said Hermione defensively, "It'll be a complete waste otherwise and I'm not made of money as you full well know!"

The waiter returned with water and Hermione was relieved that she didn't have to pay anything for it. She thought it was wrong to charge people for plain tap water but you never knew with these expensive clubs! She handed the glass to Ginny who looked a little nervous.

"You'll be fine," reassured Hermione, "you've done it before and it's worked!"

"I know," smiled Ginny as she got off her stool.

"Good luck!" called Hermione as Ginny set off towards the handsome stranger.

Hermione watched the scene play out before her apprehensively. She saw Ginny get nearer and nearer to him and then when she was just a couple of feet away she appeared to trip over something and fell straight into the man's arms, sending her drink all over him.

He looked furiously down at the culprit and Hermione thought that he was about to explode at her, but then he saw her face looking up apologetically at him, her beautiful eyes peering up at him through her fringe, and his face melted.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled Ginny to her feet and she produced a tissue from somewhere and frantically dabbed his shirt stuttering hurried apologies over and over again. The man was smiling at Ginny and waving his hand dismissively obviously telling her not to worry about it. She smiled guiltily back at him before quickly glancing at Hermione who gave her the thumps up grinning broadly.

Satisfied that Ginny was going to be occupied with something else for the rest of the evening, Hermione turned her attention back to the dancing crowd and started perusing them once more but this time for herself.

She ordered a proper drink from the bar and was just about to take a sip when a loud voice made her jump.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?"

* * *

Thanks for reading. This is just a fic that I've had in my head for quite a while and I just need to get it out of my system. I have a general idea where I want this to end up but I'm just not sure how it's going to get there yet! 

I'm quite busy with my other fic New Dawn (also a DM/HG if you wanna check it out) so let me know if you want to read more and I'll try to update regularly if the response is good. I know it's probably a bad idea trying to do two stories at once but as it's Summer now I suppose this is when it will work better than any other time!

Anyhow, thanks for reading! Please review,

Lil Drop of Magic


	2. Draco's Dictating Ego

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter world

Love and kisses to **sagi**** babe, Kipling-Nori, funkydevil206, azoriangt, Silidons, ONIX-21, jazee, -jellyacey- **and** Aiyuri **for their reviews!

* * *

People thought that being a world famous superstar must be great. But they were wrong. It was bloody fantastic! Or so thought Draco Malfoy as he found himself surrounded by the most stunning girls London had to offer, all of whom were listening avidly to him while he talked about his favourite subject: himself.

"Did I tell you about the house I bought in Saint Lucia or what about my villa in Italy? I bought that one just a couple of weeks ago. I was supposed to be in a meeting about this new film that I'm doing, but being in Italy seemed like a much more interesting way to spend my time."

The girls around him all giggled and showed beautifully straight white teeth and one of them refilled his glass of champagne.

"Yeah, my manager was pretty cross with me but he's always been a bit of a pushover so I wasn't worried at all."

The girls all giggled again and Draco sighed contentedly to himself. He loved being back in London again, it truly felt like home. Ok, so the weather wasn't always great and there were constant traffic jams but there wasn't anywhere else in the world quite like the UK. Don't get him wrong, he thought L.A was great but everything felt artificial-like no one was quite what they seemed.

"So, which one of my films do you lot like best? No, wait, let me guess… 'To the Ends of the Earth'"

The girls around him all nodded, surprised that he had guessed correctly.

"Yeah," Draco chuckled, "Girls always love that one. I guess it's the whole 'he'll cross travel to the afterlife to get the one he loves back'." The girls all sighed as they remembered that scene in the film. "But I suppose the fact that I show off my pretty ample abs in it quite a lot is a highlight too!"

They all giggled loudly and some hid their blushes behind their hands.

"What was it like working with Jasmine Stone, Mr. Malfoy?" asked an extremely pretty brunette with lightly tanned skin and stunning eyes.

"Please, call me Draco," he smirked at her.

The brunette blushed profusely.

"What was it like Draco?"

"You won't meet another person as lovely as her in all of Hollywood!" he drawled, "Plus she's just as gorgeous off screen as she is on it. But," he hastened to add, "she is nothing compared to the beauty of you ladies here tonight!" He reached forward and grabbed the brunette's hand before bringing it to his lips and kissing it gently.

The brunette, if possible, went even redder while the others tittered at his exclamation.

"Now, if you'll excuse me ladies, I need to pay a visit to the little boy's room." He stood up and blew the group a kiss.

"Hurry back!" called out a particularly sexy blonde and Draco's smirk was once again prominent on his face as he strolled towards the toilets.

After he'd finished his, ahem, 'business' he wandered over to the bar to order another case of champagne for his troupe. He was about to turn back when something caught his attention. A couple of women were trying to see something at the other end of the club and Draco, intrigued as to what they were looking at Draco straightened himself so that he could see over the heads over the dancing people and was extremely shocked to see that they were looking at his manager, Blaise.

Quite why they were discussing his manager Draco was completely mystified but he decided he would stay where he was for a couple of minutes to see what was going on. The brunette ordered a glass of wine and gave it to the red head who set of towards Blaise looking slightly nervous.

Draco, now with a slight scowl on his face, moved to get a better view of what was happening. The redhead walked slowly towards his manager and Draco had a feeling he knew what she was about to do. He smirked. Man was she going to get a surprise! Blaise had one hell of a temper and Draco had never seen it soften because of a pair of pretty eyes or a flashy smile. Blaise had always been a bit of a loner and Draco set himself up to watch the naïve girl get blown off.

Sure enough, just as Draco had expected, she 'tripped' over and spilt her glass on him and Draco could see the anger in his manger's eyes from where he was sitting. He steeled himself, ready to watch the girl get slaughtered but, to his utter amazement and slight annoyance, this never occurred. On the contrary, Blaise was laughing and smiling at the girl. Draco realised that his mouth was hanging open and quickly closed it before anyone noticed; gormless was not exactly his best look.

He continued to stare at the pair of them until he saw the girl glance back towards the brunette at the bar. His eyes narrowed as he watched the brunette give her friend the thumbs up. Scowling again, Draco looked back at the newly acquainted couple and saw that they were really hitting it off and, as he watched they moved on to the dance floor. Blaise Never Danced.

Draco suddenly saw what he imagined the near future would look like flash before his eyes and he did not like what he saw. He needed his manager to be focused completely on him! How was Draco supposed to get all the good parts and sponsorship deals if Blaise was off with some girl?

He lost sight of the two of them in the club and instead chose to glare at the brunette who was still sitting at the bar. 'This must be her idea' thought Draco, 'after all she was the one who bought the wine and she seemed to be egging on the red head. She needs to know what she's done.'

He walked over to her and just as she was about to take a sip of her drink he asked her loudly, "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Excuse me?!" the girl asked as she turned around to look at who was talking to her. Draco saw the girls eyebrows shoot up a bit when she obviously recognised him- who wouldn't? But she did not back down at all and sat there looking confusedly at him.

"What do you think you're doing trying to set up your friend with my manager?"

"Your manager?!" the girl gaped at him and then recovered slightly. "What does it matter if I did? He's his own person. He's not married or anything is he?" she added as an after thought.

"No. He's not interested in girls-" She raised her eyebrows at him. "He's not interested in anyone. He's too busy looking after me. He doesn't have time for a girlfriend!"

She rolled her eyebrows at him and took a sip of her drink before crossing her arms and looking up at him disdainfully.

"He's happy on his own," continued Draco, "he always has been and always will be!"

"Well then I don't exactly see what your problem is because if he doesn't need it then he won't want it will he? So quit being such a baby and go back to your little fan club." She turned away and left Draco staring speechlessly at her back. No one had _ever_ spoken to him like that since he became famous. Not a girl at any rate.

He shook himself briefly to get a grip on the situation and then sat in the seat next to her.

"Look, I don't think you understand. I need Blaise to be focused on getting me the best acting roles and sponsorship deals. Your silly little friend could cost me a lot of money!"

The girl shook her head at him incredulously and took another sip of her drink. "You know you've only been in my presence a matter of minutes and I can definitely say that you are the most selfish person I have ever met! Worrying about _your_ future, _your_ money (when you probably have millions anyway!) and _your _life when you don't give a damn about your manager's or my friend's happiness! God I don't know how he can stand being around you!

"It's too late now anyway cos they both look like they're enjoying themselves. And, you should know I would still have encouraged her to go over to him even if I knew I'd have to suffer this ludicrous conversation with you because I actually care about other people and like to see my friends happy. Plus, the fact that I seem to have annoyed you is an added and most pleasant bonus!"

Draco was left sitting quietly next to her, not exactly sure what to say after the girl's rant.

"Look- er," he looked at her expectantly.

"Hermione," she sneered at him.

"Look _Hermione_," he said scathingly, "I don't need to sit here and listen to your petty criticisms of me while my professional future is in jeopardy, so, if you'll excuse me, I will attend to the matter immediately," and he made to leave his seat and separate the red head and his manager but she grabbed his sleeve tightly.

"You will do no such thing!" she hissed at him.

"Be careful!" he snapped at her as he yanked his sleeve free. "This is a Gucci shirt!"

She glared at him as though daring him to go and break up the couple who were blissfully unaware of the trouble they had caused. He was of course not intimidated by her in the slightest but it would give him some bad press if he was seen making a scene in the nightclub and he was sure this girl would love to give a scathing report of him to the press so he slumped back into his seat glaring moodily at the bar in front of him.

He saw Hermione looking sideways at him exasperatedly. "Look do you think that you could go and sit back with your fan club. I don't particularly want to sit next to a spoilt, egotistical, selfish, overpaid actor all night. I actually came here to enjoy myself."

Despite receiving yet another insult from the fiery brunette Draco actually managed to smirk back at her. "Don't tell me that you actually think I'm incapable of giving you a good time?"

"That's exactly what I think. Of all the men in here tonight you are the person I'd least like to spend an evening with."

Draco looked back at her completely unconvinced.

"Well if that's the way you think then maybe _you_ should go somewhere else then."

"Why should I go somewhere else? I was here first!" she said indignantly. "Plus I don't have a VIP area waiting to accommodate me."

"Fine! Stay here then. I don't mind. I would enjoy the stimulating company to be honest." He wasn't particularly sure why he was staying here with someone who seemed to hate him but something about the girl next to him intrigued him. She wasn't evenly slightly daunted by his stardom, even when he had pretty much shouted at her and this impressed him slightly. This was something unprecedented.

Wherever he went women practically threw themselves at him which, obviously, he had absolutely no objection to! He had never had any trouble convincing a woman to spend the night with him and he had lost count of the number of women who had visited one his various properties around the world. They were all awed by his fame, wealth and celebrity status and were like moths to the flame.

Hermione on the other hand seemed to look down at him and Draco certainly would not have that. He would make this self-righteous, plucky woman see that she was no better than him. He could do with a challenge to entertain himself while he was here in the UK.

"Well, seeing as neither of us is leaving why don't I get you a drink?"

"I've already got one," she snapped.

"Well you've nearly finished that one. Come on, you can have whatever you want- I don't mind."

"I am perfectly capable of buying my own refreshment thank you Mr. Malfoy."

"I know that, I'm just showing you a nice gesture. Why won't you let me buy you a drink? Oh and it's Draco by the way."

"Well _Draco_," she sneered while he smiled pleasantly back at her, "it might be because I don't particularly want to talk to you considering that five minutes ago you were trying to ruin my friend's evening."

"Your friend has only been dancing with Blaise for ten minutes! She can easily find someone else to dance with! _Ruin her evening!_ As if!"

"Huh! That coming from the man who was convinced that Ginny was going to destroy your future simply because she spilled a glass of wine over your manager. Talk about overreacting!"

"Look Hermione!" He was starting to get angry again and this certainly wasn't the way to win her over. He breathed deeply and started again. "Look Hermione, you're right- I overreacted. I'm sorry. So…can I get you a drink then?" he asked hopefully.

She sighed. "If your ego dictates that you must..."

He smirked and asked the barman for two glasses of champagne from the case that he had ordered earlier. Hermione politely sipped some and then stared at him, obviously expecting him to say something.

"Come now Hermione, seeing as I bought the drinks surely you should think of something for us to talk about."

"You know I really can't think of anything to talk about with you."

"All right, I'll think of something then- oh I know," He was eager to get back onto a topic that he knew more about and he decided on the one that he enjoyed talking about the most- "which of my films is your favourite?"

"I couldn't possibly answer that," she smiled sweetly at him, "because I've never seen any of them."

"What- none of them?" He had not expected that. He had never had that response to the question before. His spirits plummeted a little bit. "Why not?"

"I'm not really a chick flick sort of person- I enjoy films that have more of a plot to them and tell more real-life stories."

"Oh…I see," he mumbled but then brightened up suddenly. "Well maybe you'll like the new project that I'm going to be working on. It's very different to what I've done before, more serious."

"Maybe…" she said but looked quite unconvinced.

"Hey, look what are you doing tomorrow night? Are you busy?"

Hermione wracked her brain to try and come up with an imaginary event she could be going to tomorrow- she didn't like where this conversation was headed.

"Oh she's never busy on a Saturday night!" puffed a breathless voice over Draco's shoulder and he turned to see the red head and Blaise a few feet away, making their way towards them as it appeared they were taking a break from their dancing.

"Errr Draco this is Ginny Weasley, Ginny this is Draco Malfoy." Hermione introduced the pair of them to try and divert the conversation away from the fact that she had no plans tomorrow night.

Draco resisted the urge to glare at the woman who could be ruining his future and instead simply shook her hand and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ginny." Hermione just about managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes at his two facedness.

Ginny then introduced Blaise and Hermione to each other. "Blaise is Draco's manager Hermione!" Ginny said excitedly.

"Yes Draco did mention that," Hermione said but Ginny missed the sarcasm in her voice.

"So why did you want to know if Hermione was busy?" Ginny asked Draco as Hermione handed her her glass of champagne to have a sip of.

"I wanted to know if she would like to go out to dinner with me." Draco replied simply.

Hermione stared at him shocked while Ginny looked ecstatic!

"Of course she'll go with you!" Ginny beamed.

"What!" yelped Hermione staring at Ginny aghast.

"I'm glad to hear it," smirked Malfoy, ignoring Hermione's outburst and helping himself to some more champagne.

"No Ginny…you don't-"

"Could you excuse us for a moment gentlemen," Ginny smiled sweetly at them before dragging Hermione off to the other end of the bar.

"Hermione are you crazy! How can you possibly want to turn down a date with Draco Malfoy!"

"Because he's a horrible, arrogant selfish person! You know he actually came over and yelled at me for setting you up with his manager because he wanted Blaise to be completely focused on him. He was actually going to walk on to the dance floor and split you two up!"

"What? That's stupid! Look Hermione he's bound to be a bit self-centred- he's an actor! But this is a once in a lifetime situation, thousands of girls would kill to be in your shoes!"

"I'm sure thousands of girls already have been in my shoes; you and I both know that he's regarded as being a playboy. I do not want to be another person in a long list of names."

"Well it's not like you have to sleep with him or anything- but I wouldn't blame you if you did! Just go out to dinner with him. You could even be the one girl who dumps him! Oh come on 'Mione please! You'll regret it if you don't. If you won't do it for yourself than do it for me! I would have the gossip of the century! Plus if you keep Draco busy then that means I get to spend time with Blaise!"

'I wouldn't count on it' thought Hermione before chewing on her bottom lip as she contemplated on what to do. Ok, so he was an egotistical prat and she had hated her 15 minutes or so in his company. But going out and having him pay for an expensive meal couldn't be _that_ bad. She looked into Ginny's pleading eyes and felt her resolve crumble.

"Ugh all right!" she sighed.

Ginny squealed happily.

"Oh 'Mione I can't believe that you're going out on a date with a superstar and millionaire! I'm gonna come round tomorrow afternoon and get you looking fabulous!" Ginny chattered as she guided Hermione back to where the guys were waiting.

"So are we still on for tomorrow night?" enquired Draco raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Hermione replied extremely unenthusiastically. Ginny gave her a poke in the ribs and she plastered a fake smile on her face. "I can't wait."

"Excellent!" he smirked at her before passing glasses to the two girls. "Cheers!"

"Er Draco do you want to tell me why, exactly, you want to go on a date with someone who seems to really dislike you?" Blaise asked as they watched the two girls leave the club.

"I dunno really," he replied honestly. "There's something different about her. She's not the normal sort of girl I meet. For starters she didn't even ask me about being rich or famous and she's never even seen anyone of my films. I suppose I want to prove that I can get someone like that- someone who doesn't want to be with me because I'm famous! In fact my fame and fortune seem to be what's putting her off! I just want to try something different…"

Blaise kept very quiet through all of this. Draco had never shown dissatisfaction with the sort of girls he had dated before. This Hermione girl, in Blaise's opinion, was a marked improvement than the women who threw themselves at the actor's feet. 'She has a sense of pride and dignity that those other women have sorely lacked' he thought as he glanced over to the VIP area where the women were craning their necks to see where Draco had gotten to. Of course the fact that Hermione was good friends with Ginny was obviously a bonus!

At the thought of the beautiful woman he had met that night Blaise experienced a funny fluttery feeling in his stomach that he had never felt before. Of course he'd been with women a couple of times before but he had never felt this way about any of them and he'd only been with Ginny for a couple of hours! He reached into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the piece of paper that had Ginny's phone number written on it and smiled dreamily.

"Well," Blaise said when he had recovered his senses, "tomorrow night should be interesting shouldn't it!"

* * *

A/N Well thanks for reading! I can't believe that Deathly Hallows comes down in a few days! I'm sooooooo excited! Lol! What did you all think of OotP by the way? I really enjoyed it- thought it was the best one yet! Obviously it doesn't even come close to the book (which is my second favourite) and they rushed it a bit but I enjoyed it none the less!

I'm going on holiday in about a weeks time so I won't be able to update for a while unfortunately!

Anyway, let me know what you think! Oooo you could make suggestions to what normal jobs everyone should have cos I only really know what Draco, Hermione and Blaise do for a living so ideas would be very welcome!

Thanks a lot,

Lil Drop of Magic


	3. Ginny's Big Mouth

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world.

Much love to Silidons, Smoking Panda 68, PinkPunkF, ginsensu, Aiyuri (I used your suggestion!) and –jellyacey- for their reviews!

I should warn you that there are certain aspects of Deathly Hallows that I have chosen to use in this fic- you'll know what they are when you read it.

Also, just a reminder that this is an AU (obviously) and you should bear this in mind when you get further on.

The combination of the doorbell ringing and someone banging on her front door slowly brought Hermione back to the conscious world. She gazed blearily at the alarm clock and saw that it was just after 7am.

She groaned, dragged herself away from the warm comfort of her duvet and trudged down the hallway to the front door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she called out but her noisy visitor didn't seem to hear and continued with their attempt to beat the door down.

She fumbled with the catch and eventually yanked the door open, resulting in her visitor landing on top of her as their means of support was suddenly taken away from them.

Hermione caught a sight of a familiar mane of red hair and scowled as she tried to disentangle herself from the young woman.

"Ginny, what on Earth are you doing trying to break my door down at seven in the morning?"

Ginny stood up and brushed down her clothes before offering a hand to help pull Hermione up.

"I'm here to help you get ready for tonight. I promised you yesterday that I'd be over didn't I?"

"Wha- but," she spluttered, "but you said you'd be coming round this afternoon. I mean, he's not picking me up 'til half seven _tonight_!"

"I know, I'm not really sure why I said this afternoon because there's so much we need to get through!" She looked at her watch and then back at the brunette standing sleepily before her. "We've really got to start getting a move on 'Mione so go and get changed and I'll sort out your breakfast."

Hermione barely had time to utter an objection before she found herself being pushed back towards her bedroom and the door was slammed shut behind her.

She sighed before making her way over to her wardrobe and pulling on some clothes. She knew there was no point in arguing with the redhead because only a nuclear warhead or an extremely gorgeous guy could distract Ginny when she had that maniacal gleam in her eyes.

Hermione wandered back into the kitchen and looked forlornly down at her breakfast; a bowl of muesli, a banana and a glass of orange juice.

"Ginny," she moaned "it's a Saturday! I always have a fry up on a Saturday; it's my weekend treat!"

The redhead laughed airily. "Hermione don't be utterly absurd! There's no way in hell that I'm going to let you have that greasy, fatty rubbish for breakfast on the most important day of your life!"

Hermione snorted but slumped into the chair and poured milk into the bowl.

"Ginny, I can safely say that this is _not_ the most important day of my life- far from it in fact! I can think of lots of far more significant days in my life: graduating from Cambridge, getting school exam results, winning my first case-"

"All right, all right! I don't want to sit here and listen to the academic achievements of Hermione Granger thank you very much. Ok, according to your slightly flawed standards today might not be your crowning achievement but you've got to admit that today's special."

Hermione crunched on her muesli and pondered this.

Today she was going on a date- that in itself was a something of a rarity; she dated of course, but didn't exactly run through the number of men that Ginny did. Her career kept her very busy and she normally reserved the weekends for relaxing and doing a bit more work at home so she inevitably didn't have that much time for a social life.

Ok, yes, so she was actually going on a date. That wasn't particularly special; thousands of other people over the world were probably going on a date today too. But she knew, deep down, that hers was special. She was going on a date with a famous actor. To say that she wasn't even a teensy bit excited would be a lie and she knew it.

"Fine, it's special," she admitted, "but I'm sure my situation isn't unique; I'm nowhere near the first, and I'm sure I won't be the last woman to be taken on a date with Draco Malfoy."

"Oh for God's sake Hermione, why do you have to keep putting a negative spin on this? Can't you just enjoy the fact that a gorgeous, wealthy celebrity is taking you out to dinner? Who cares if he's dated loads of people before you! It's not like you actually want to have a relationship with him is it?"

"Of course I don't! But don't you see why that makes it so much different from a normal date? It's not as though I actually care how this date turns out; the only reason that I said I'd go out for a meal with him is so that you can spend some time with Blaise! What are you two getting up to tonight anyway?" Hermione hoped that by changing the subject to Blaise she'd be able to get Ginny off her back.

"He's taking me out for dinner too. I um, I told him to pick me up from here."

"What?! Why'd you do that? Why can't he pick you up from your flat?"

"Mine's a complete mess- I can't let Blaise see it! Yours is always so neat and tidy and just basically better than mine. At least this means that we'll be able to help each other get ready and stuff. Please!"

"All right, but you're going to have to show Blaise your apartment eventually!"

"I know that! It's just I wont have time to tidy it today cos I've got a pretty hectic schedule lined up for us."

"Care to tell me exactly what is going to take us 12 hours to get ready for tonight?"

"Well, nothing extreme, just a visit to a health spa, a quick haircut, manicures and obviously we're going to have to go looking for new outfits!"

"Oh my God, Ginny! How much is this all gonna cost? I mean a health spa?! A morning in there's going to be about £100!"

"Relax 'Mione. One of the girls who works there owes me a favour and she managed to wangle us a free morning as long as we're out by midday."

"What? How did you manage to organise this? We left the club after midnight and you must've been up at the crack of dawn to be knocking on my door half an hour ago."

"She's a bit of a party animal so I just text her on the way home. She won't be there this morning but she left a message at the reception desk about us. Our appointment's from half eight onwards so we really should get going."

"Ginny I can't afford to get a manicure, a new dress and a haircut, I'm sorry but that's just the way it is. I'm not prepared to spend all that money on a date- he's not worth it."

"Hermione this isn't a normal date; you're going out with _Draco Malfoy_! I don't care if you're not interested him, I'm gonna make sure that he realises he's got the most fabulous women joining him for dinner tonight. If this is the only date you two ever go on then I want him to never forget how he wasn't good enough for you."

"I'm nowhere near as beautiful as the women Draco was sitting with in the club last night. I'm sure he'll forget about me as soon as he drops me home tonight."

"Will you stop putting yourself down! You're a million times better than those tarts that were throwing themselves at him in the club. Now come on, we'd better be going." She grabbed Hermione's wrist and dragged her out the flat.

1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

"Ahhhhhhhh, that feels so good! I haven't felt this relaxed in years."

Ginny turned her head to look at the brunette and smiled as a couple of masseurs rubbed their worries away.

"So you're glad that I fixed this for us then?"

"Definitely," Hermione breathed. "I only wish I earned enough money to pay for this every week."

"What's the special occasion then?" asked the woman who was currently massaging Hermione's lower back.

"She's going on a date with Draco Malfoy," Ginny sighed.

Both of the masseurs paused in shock,

"You're kidding!"

"No, I'm not. We were in _Creative_ last night and he was there too. They got talking and he asked her out."

"How the hell did you two get in _Creative_? No offence or anything but I heard that it costs a bomb to get on the guest list."

"We went to school with the owner."

Hermione frowned. She didn't really like the fact that they were once again on the subject of her date with Draco Malfoy. Ginny had somehow managed to bring the subject up in every single treatment room they'd been in. She supposed that she shouldn't be too surprised seeing as Ginny was the biggest gossip she knew but the topic was getting rather tedious.

"Oh my God, you're _so lucky_."

"I'd give up a month's pay to go on a date with Draco Malfoy!"

She'd heard these responses (or ones along the same lines) a dozen times already and wished that Ginny had simply said that they both had dates, nothing more detailed than that.

"Where is he taking you?" Ginny's masseur asked her, envy plain on her face.

"I dunno actually. He just said he'd take me out to dinner."

"Wow! I bet he'll take you to some super famous restaurant where only the super rich can get in without having to book a table two months in advance. I bet the food's going to be amazing!"

"Imagine," the other masseur breathed as she gazed off into the distance, "this date could change your entire life. You'll be rubbing shoulders with an entirely different class of people and who knows what'll happen when you're there."

"It's only one meal," Hermione reasoned, "it's not even a proper date. I don't actually like the guy."

But the masseurs didn't really want to hear about how she found him arrogant and selfish, they just continued to gush over how sexy Draco Malfoy was and discuss the various films he'd appeared in.

Hermione just rolled her eyes, laid her head on her arms and tried to block out their excited, giggling voices.

1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

"So where are you taking your little redhead tonight then?" Draco was slightly curious about what Blaise did on dates seeing as he had never known his friend and manager to go one before.

"Well, she suggested Chinese and I asked around and apparently there's a place of Tottenham Court Road that's supposed to be really good. It's called _Hakkasan_ You ever heard of it?"

"Nope." Having not spent much time in London in the past few years Draco was unfamiliar with many of the fashionable restaurants.

"What about you? Where are you going tonight?"

"Where I always go when I'm here."

Blaise frowned slightly, which greatly irritated Draco.

"What? Why shouldn't I take her there?"

"Well, from what I could make out last night, I think you're going to have to work a lot harder to win Hermione's affections than with other girls. You already said that your fame and fortune seem to be putting her off; if you take her there then it would just look like you're showing off."

"Thanks for your advice _Blaise,_ but I'd wager I know more about the opposite sex than you." Draco retorted scathingly. "You only want my date to go well so you can carry on seeing your little redhead."

He looked down at the sheaf of paper in his lap and continued perusing the script, flicking through the pages irritably.

"She has a name Draco; _Ginny_. And I'm not denying that I want to spend as much time as possible with her but I'm still you're best mate too. If things didn't work out between Ginny and me but you and Hermione were still together then I'd try and make sure that there were, er, damage limitations so that it wouldn't affect you two too much."

Draco stared at one of his lines on the script without reading it. He had, as a matter of fact, been thinking of ways that he could split up the other couple all morning. He briefly considered how angry Hermione would get if she ever found out that he had conspired against her friend.

Ok, so he wouldn't actively try and force Blaise and the redhead apart while he was trying to get with Hermione but, if that particular venture didn't work out then he was determined to make his manager single once more.

"I'm meeting Hermione in 45 minutes so you'd better go get ready for your date."

It was a simple statement but Blaise knew when he was being dismissed.

"Right, well, good luck for tonight. I'll see you later."

"Bye."

1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

The day passed rather slowly but pleasantly for Hermione. It wasn't often that she indulged her femininity, however, she enjoyed letting herself be pampered.

She did get slightly frustrated after it felt like she and Ginny had tried on every dress in London. Ginny had taken it upon herself to find the right dresses for them both and it had taken her a long while to be satisfied.

Something else that had incredibly annoyed and embarrassed her was that Ginny seemed incapable of withholding the name of Hermione's date to anyone who had come within 3 metres of them. To be perfectly honest she'd be glad is she never heard the name Draco Malfoy ever again after tonight.

"Hermione can you zip my dress up for me?"

"Yeah, sure," she leant over and secured Ginny into the emerald green silk dress. It was quite a simple dress but Hermione thought that it suited the red head perfectly.

Her dress, on the other hand, was a pale gold colour and halter necked. It had a double tiered hemline and the skirt was pleated. The second tier of the dress was netted and stopped just below the knee. She couldn't deny that she absolutely loved it and did not regret the amount of money she had spent on it a single bit.

The doorbell sounded as Hermione just finished putting on her necklace and she strolled down to see who was there. She opened the door to discover her two best friends smiling down at her.

"Harry! Ron! What are you two doing here?"

"All right 'Mione? Wow you look really great. We just thought we'd pop in to see how you are. That's all right isn't it?" enquired Ron as he pecked her on the cheek then strode past her into the living room.

"Oh, well, I'm afraid that I've got plans tonight." Hermione frowned and followed the black haired boy into the room after he too had kissed her and left her to close the door.

"What?" asked Harry looking slightly bemused, "but you never have plans on a weekend. You're telling me you don't have half an hour spare for your best friends?"

Hermione checked her watch; Draco would be here in 30 minutes and she still hadn't done her makeup.

"Sorry Harry, but I don't even have 5 minutes to spare. Why didn't you phone and check if I was free?"

"We just assumed you _would_ be," admitted Ron. "You're normally pretty dependable. So what are you up to tonight then?"

"I've got a date."

Both boys looked at her in shock.

"What? You don't have to look so surprised. I date now and then."

"Anyone we know?" Harry asked casually and Hermione blushed.

"Um, yes, actually. I think you might know him."

"_Might_ know him?" asked Ron. "So he's not some incredibly rich, famous and good looking movie star then?"

"I-" she looked up at them and frowned at the identical grins showing broadly on their faces. "Who told you?" she moaned, although she suspected she already knew the answer.

"Ginny," they both answered.

Hermione huffed in annoyance.

"She text everyone at about seven in the morning. I thought she must've been mistaken at first, but I suppose there can't be many Draco Malfoy's in the world- I mean, it's a pretty daft name isn't it?" joked Ron.

"I dunno," contemplated Harry, "Hermione Malfoy has a good ring to it!"

Hermione whacked him on the arm and glared at the pair.

"Fine, make fun of me all you want but the only reason I'm doing this is for Ginny."

"Not for his money or good looks then?" enquired Harry smirking down at her.

"Absolutely not! It's for Ginny!"

"Why would you be going on a date with Draco Malfoy for Ginny?" Ron's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.

"Because she hit it off with his manager and I'm making sure she gets to spend time with him by going out with Draco. What, didn't she tell you she was going on a date too?"

"No she did not!" Ron looked quite furious, while Harry looked slightly amused.

"Thanks a lot 'Mione," Ginny scowled at her from the doorway where she'd been listening in on the conversation.

"What happened to that Rick guy?" Ron turned on her.

Harry followed Hermione out of the room as she left to go and finish getting ready, as he didn't want to stay with the bickering siblings- Weasley tempers could be quite scary.

Hermione tried to ignore Harry's presence in her room and started to apply her make up.

"You'll have to go before he gets here," she said as she hunted for her mascara.

"Why? We want to meet him."

"I can't possibly see why you'd want to meet him- you have nothing in common!"

"We always try to meet the guys you're going out with."

"Scare them off more like," Hermione muttered. Having her two best friends there would be extremely intimidating for Draco. But, Hermione mused, there was the possibility that their presence would just bounce off his giant ego.

The doorbell rang again and she stomped past Harry to see who it was this time.

"Oh Hermione dear you look absolutely beautiful! I just wish Arthur could've gotten the time off work to be here too."

"Err, thanks Molly. What are you guys all doing here?" She peered around as the faces of Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Bill, Fleur and their daughter Victoire and little son Pierre grinned back at her.

"We're here to see if you've really snagged a date with Draco Malfoy of course!" beamed Fred.

"It's not that we don't believe that he'd actually want to go on a date with you-" said George.

"-It's just that Ginny has been known to get carried away by gossip sometimes!" finished his twin.

Hermione sighed.

"No, no it's true." She moved aside, "Come in then. Harry and Ron are already here."

Once everyone had moved into her living room she grabbed Ginny by the wrist and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Have you told everyone?!"

"Well, not _everyone_ Hermione- that would be stupid!"

"Should I be expecting anyone else to be calling round or can I finish getting ready?"

Ginny was about to respond when the doorbell cut her off. Hermione glared daggers at her while Ginny had the grace to look a bit sheepish.

Hermione stormed once more up the corridor and flung the door open. She was momentarily stunned, however by a flash of light.

"And here she is, ladies and gentlemen; Miss Hermione Granger just minutes before she is whisked away to the glamorous world of celebrity and forgets about all her normal, boring friends."

Hermione glared at the black haired, handsome middle aged man grinning at her and holding the camera while the others around him laughed heartily.

"Ha ha very funny Sirius," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Wotcher Hermione," greeted the seven months pregnant Tonks, "you look fantastic!"

"Very sexy," agreed Sirius winking at her while the others nodded.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Come in then," she sighed and once again stepped aside to let Tonks, Remus, their young son Teddy, Sirius, James and Lily into her flat. She could not believe Ginny and her big mouth!

"Look everybody, I don't really understand why you're all here but I think it's best to warn you that this is only one date. You guys really shouldn't get your hopes up." Hermione said as she went into the very crowded living room.

"No offence 'Mione but if we thought this was going to progress further than one date then we wouldn't all be here acting as though this was our only opportunity to meet someone famous!" pointed out James.

"What are you talking about? I'm famous!" said Ron indignantly.

Many people snorted.

"Playing third division football hardly qualifies you as being famous Ron," smirked Sirius.

"Ok, look," Hermione said loudly cutting Ron off before he got a chance to retort, "I don't really care about you being here when Draco Malfoy arrives, but, you have all _got_ to leave before Ginny's date gets here to pick her up. No, Fred, I absolutely insist. This is _my_ flat and you all have to leave when I say so. Now," she checked her watch, "I have ten minutes before he gets here and I haven't finished getting ready yet so just talk amongst yourselves for a bit. Oh, and if the doorbell goes, _I_ will answer it." She glared round the room once and left.

"Wow, I can _really_ see what attracted her to him," joked Fred as the door slammed shut behind her.

"You owe me big time," Hermione said as she found Ginny in her bedroom as she, too, finished getting ready.

1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

As his chauffer driven car ground to a halt outside a smart apartment building Draco let out an apprehensive sigh.

He honestly could not comprehend why he was this nervous; it was only dinner!

"I'll be back soon," he told the driver before stepping out into the relatively mild April night.

Contrary to popular belief, Draco had not been on many actual _dates_. He normally picked up girls from clubs or parties and rarely took them out for dinner.

He checked his reflection in the glass doors of her building and nervously flattened invisible creases in his shirt.

He had never wanted to make a better good first impression, well, second impression; he knew that they hadn't quite gotten off on the right foot.

He soon located her apartment on the second floor and was just about to ring the bell when the door was wrenched open. Standing on the other side were two men; one a tall redhead and the other slightly shorter with messy black hair and glasses. Both men had looks on their faces that made Draco feel like he was under a microscope.

He cleared his throat uncertainly.

"Er, is Hermione ready to go?"

"Ron, Harry! What the hell are you doing? I told you not to answer the door! For God's sake stop being so overprotective and let Draco in!"

He could hear Hermione's angry voice get closer and closer and felt his heart beat faster. The two men frowned and stepped aside to make way for his date and his breath caught in his throat.

She looked stunning; there was no other word for it. Draco had been with plenty of women but he was in no doubt that she was something wonderfully different. It was somewhat enthralling how innocently beautiful she looked as she smiled nervously up at him.

"You look…wow," he cleared his throat again, "I mean, these are for you." He handed her the bunch of lavender roses he was holding in his left hand.

"Oh Draco, they're beautiful! You shouldn't have."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the other two men wearing slightly sick looking expressions on their faces. The red head cleared his throat loudly to try and get Hermione's attention off the flowers.

"Oh, how rude of me. Draco, these are my best friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Ron is Ginny's brother."

"It's nice to meet you both," said Draco as he shook their hands before he turned to her. "Are you ready to go then?"

"Er, yes, but there's a couple more people who just want to say hello before we go. Is that ok?" she asked looking a bit embarrassed.

"Yeah, sure."

She smiled at him, looking a bit apprehensive. "They're just through here." She gestured to another room and he duly followed her towards it as she opened it.

"Everyone, this is Draco Malfoy."

He stepped into the vicinity of the room and blanched. There were _not_ a couple of people in the room; the number, in fact, seemed to be closer to fifteen and they were all staring avidly at him. It was not as though he was unused to this sort of behaviour, it was just that he was caught unprepared and was already nervous at the prospect of dinner with the pretty woman next to him, without having to meet everyone she knew too.

"Don't worry, I didn't invite them," Hermione said next to him. "Ginny couldn't keep her mouth shut about tonight. Luckily, I'm not related to any of them; they're just like my extended family. They kinda wanted to meet you, apparently you're quite famous!" she joked and he laughed weakly.

She moved over to one side of the room where a large group of red heads stood and began introducing them.

"This is Molly Weasley, Draco. She's Ginny and Ron's mother.

"It's very nice to meet you Mr. Malfoy," Molly said breathlessly as she shook his hand.

"Please, everyone call me Draco." He had recovered from his shock of finding the room bursting with people and had managed to create his normally cool exterior once more. He was more than used to meeting with fans and so the words ran off his tongue without him really having to think about them.

"These are three of her other sons Bill, Fred and George- Charlie and Percy are probably working." He shook hands with the three Weasley men and smiled politely.

"This is Bill's wife Fleur," Hermione continued, indicating a very beautiful blonde woman, "and their children Victoire and little Pierre."

"These are Harry's parents; Lily and James Potter-"

"Why's it always Lily who gets introduced first?" pouted James.

"It's _should_ be ladies first Prongs mate! Gods Lily, how did you ever end up with this unchivalrous git!"

"And this is Sirius Black," Hermione indicated the man who had spoken, "known playboy and irritating waste of space."

"Hermione, how you wound me with your wicked lies!" He placed a hand over his heart and looked as though he was in painful suffering. She tried to keep an emotionless face but her lips twitched slightly as she moved on while the others around them snickered.

"This is Remus Lupin and his wife Nymphadora," the purple haired woman glared at his date and she quickly hurried on, "- but we all call her Tonks."

"My mother chose to punish me with a stupid first name too," drawled Draco and everyone laughed.

He felt someone tugging at his shirt and looked down to see a young boy of around five years old gazing up at him.

"I'm Teddy Lupin and I'm six next week."

"Wow, that's so grown up!" Draco said, sounding amazed as he crouched next to the little boy.

"I know. Vicky's only four!" he pointed to the little blonde girl who was holding her dad's hand.

"I'm _nearly_ five," she retorted, poking her tongue out at the boy who retaliated in fashion, while Draco chuckled.

"Are you going to come to my party?" Teddy asked, his eyes wide and hopeful.

"Err," he looked nervously from the little boy, to Hermione and then the Lupin's.

"Draco's a very busy man Teddy." Tonks reasoned, placing a hand on the boy's shoulders.

"I'll try and be there." Draco said and, surprising himself, he meant it.

"I'll be right back Draco; I want to put these flowers in some water."

And before he could do or say anything to prevent her, Hermione vacated the room and left him standing with a bunch of strangers.

Luckily, the one person who he had been acquainted with for more than ten minutes came to his rescue as she stepped into the crowded room.

"All right Draco?" Ginny asked as she gave the heavily pregnant Tonks a glass of juice.

"Yes, thank you. Oh, thanks for the tip about the roses."

"No problem. Oh, hang on; there was something I wanted to ask you."

Draco raised an eyebrow, inviting her to go on.

"In _Time After Time,_ how were you able to give Felicity the ring when, in the future, it was hidden in the grave?"

"Oh yes," said Lily, "I've always wondered about that."

"There was a deleted scene where I dig it up," he explained.

"What? I never even noticed that bit," pondered Tonks.

"No, nor did I at first. It was Hermione who spotted it."

It was a few seconds or so before what the redhead had said registered in his consciousness.

"_Hermione_ spotted it you say."

"Yeah, she's seen that one a couple of times- it's her favourite of the one's you're in."

"Is that so?" he smirked broadly at the young woman who had just re-entered the room to place the vase of flowers on the coffee table.

"Is what so?" she asked distractedly.

"That _Time After Time_ is your favourite film that I star in."

Hermione stopped dead and blushed profusely.

"You know it's funny, but I seem to recall you saying yesterday that you'd never seen any of my films," he drawled.

Ginny snorted.

"Well that's a lie. We've seen quite a few actually."

"Even _I've_ seen a couple," barked Sirius, "not by free choice though. No offence mate," he added quickly to Draco.

"None taken," replied Draco who was feeling a lot happier now that he knew that Hermione didn't think him a complete waste of cinema ticket money.

"Er, shouldn't we be going Draco?" she asked in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

He looked down at his watch and saw that she was probably right.

"We couldn't have a few pictures before you go could we? It's just that we're sure once you found out Hermione's long list of faults over dinner tonight we'll never see you again!"

"Sirius!" admonished Molly, while Lily whacked him on the arm.

"He's coming to my party!" cried Teddy indignantly.

"We'll have to see about the party I'm afraid but you can take the photos if you want- if that's ok with you?" he asked turning to Hermione.

"It's no problem," she smiled.

So, after many rounds of "Cheese!" Hermione and Draco finally made their way out the door.

"Why did you say you hadn't seen any of my films then?"

Hermione blushed again but looked defiantly up at him.

"You'd just been extremely rude to my friend and me. I wanted to get you back where it would hurt the most- your ego. It looks like I was right, wasn't I?"

He frowned, feeling unsettled again. Somehow, he knew that tonight wouldn't go as well as he'd hoped.

1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

A/N Wow I really wasn't expecting this chapter to be so long. I had originally planned to have their date in this update as well. Sorry for keeping you guys waiting a while.

Some things for you to note- I almost completely forgot that Tonks, Sirius and the Malfoy's are related so just forget that bit. View the Malfoy's as a completely different family.

Also, I decided to give Victoire a brother because, although JK Rowling doesn't mention one in the Epilogue, it's likely that Bill and Fleur would have more than one kid.

Judging that Teddy's going to 6 in a week, it means that it is Hermione's sixth year out of Hogwarts (well, Watchling's) which makes her 24, Draco 23 and the year 2004.

If you want to see a picture of Hermione's dress then there will be link to it on my bio page. It probably looks nothing like how I described but I found that really difficult lol!

Oh, and another thing- I haven't actually specified whether it's a fanon!Blaise or a canon!Blaise. I don't particularly have a preference but if you do then just leave me a note and I'll see what everyone wants.

Thanks for reading,

Lots of Love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	4. Getting to Know You

A/N Shock, horror! She has updated!!! Yay!!!!

I do apologise and the main reason for the long overdue updated is that I have been attending university since September and I have found little time to do any writing. The only reason that this chapter is out now is that I have a week off! I am not going to give up on this fic so don't be worried if I haven't updated in a while.

Much love to tigersky7, PinkPunkF, Silidons, bluemoony, i love thorpe park (So do I!), ginsensu, heytheredalaila, -jellyacey-, DracoHermineBlaise, sam-derevko, Aiyuri (Thanks for your advise- I really didn't know that! It should be better this time!), classygyrl, vampires and Lemon Smasher for their reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world.

* * *

The couple walked quietly down the steps towards the lobby of the apartment. After Hermione had insulted him yet again Draco was struggling to come up with something to say that would make her like him. He hurried forward to open the main door for her and she rewarded him with a small smile.

"Er, the car's just over here," he stated, indicating a sleek black car with darkened windows. The Chauffeur was standing by the car waiting to help Hermione in.

"Haven't you passed your driving test yet?" she asked Draco with a mischievous look on her face, "or are you too lazy to drive yourself?"

"Er, neither," Draco frowned, not sure if she was joking or not, "- it's just easier to hire someone who knows London very well and who knows how to get away from the Press."

"Are you not very good at that then?"

"Er, no." He suddenly realised that he'd said 'Er' three times in less than 30 seconds. Why did she make him feel so stupid? "The last time I drove in London I got chased by a photographer and it made me crash into a lamp post. It was quite embarrassing actually," he finished, going red, while Hermione tried not to laugh next to him.

She walked over to the driver and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Hermione. Thanks for driving us."

The chauffeur was a young man, only a few years older than them. He looked utterly shocked at being addressed so informally by one of the customers and stared at her for a second before taking her hand and shaking it lightly. "I'm Stan, Stan Shunpike, and it's a pleasure to meet yer, Miss." He opened the car door and she got in while Draco scowled at them both.

"Thank you, Stan but please just call me Hermione."

"Whatever yer say, Miss, er, Hermione." He grinned toothily at her and got into the driver's seat and started the car up.

"Draco, why haven't you got your seatbelt on?" Hermione admonished him, "it's not that I don't trust your driving skills, Stan but you can never be too safe, can you?"

"Very true, Miss Hermione, very true." The driver said as he pulled out onto the road.

Feeling once again very stupid- this time for having to be told to put his seatbelt on in front of his Chauffeur, Draco buckled himself in and then watched in confusion as his date chatted happily with the driver and not him.

"So, Stan, how long have you been a chauffeur?"

"Not long, Miss Hermione- only a couple of years."

"Really? Have you driven anyone famous- other than Draco of course?" Hermione quickly added as she remembered who was sitting next to her.

Draco felt his face flush and he contemplated how to get her attention off of his driver.

"Why, yes, actually, I got one on my very first job; Sir Terry Sorkan, you know, the-"

"-the Human Rights Activist! Wow, that's incredible!"

"Who?" Draco let it slip before he could stop himself. Hermione looked at him incredulously.

"You don't know who Sir Terry Sorkan is?"

"Nope. Should I?" He tried to act indifferent but inside he was cursing himself for looking ignorant.

"He's been a huge campaigner for Human Rights for about 40 years." Said Hermione.

Draco looked back at her nonplussed.

"He was imprisoned in Jakarta about 5 years ago and there was a massive international demand for his release- loads of media coverage on it." Put in Stan, looking back at Draco through the rear view mirror.

Maybe it was the surprised looked in Stan's eyes or perhaps it was because he realised that he'd made a fool of himself that Draco lost his temper.

"Thanks for your input, _Stan_ but I don't really need the guidance of a Chauffeur." And with that he leaned forward and shut the window that linked the driver and passengers.

As he settled back into his seat he felt Hermione's disapproving stare. By the time he had worked up the courage to look at her she had turned to look out of the window instead as houses and shops flew past them. The air was thick with an awkward silence and Draco was fully aware that unless he said something to improve her mood soon then he might as well ask Stan to turn the car round.

"It was very nice to meet all your friends," Draco lied, "you all seem very close."

Hermione turned to look at him and Draco was relieved to see that she was smiling slightly. "Yes, well I've known Harry and Ron since we were eleven and I spent many of my school holidays round their houses. We're just like a big family really and although, like you saw earlier, they can be a bit interfering, I wouldn't have it any other way. We all need people we love around us to support us in what we do, don't you think?"

"Oh, um, yes I suppose," Draco stammered as he suddenly felt very lonely. "But what about your parents? What do they do?"

"They're dentists," Hermione said, "But they've decided to go on a couple of years travelling before they get too old! They asked me if I wanted to go with them but I want to keep working on my career for a while yet. They know I'll be ok with the Potters and Weasleys to keep an eye on me."

"So, you all look out for one another then?"

"Well, yes! That's what friends are supposed to do for each other, isn't it? Harry and Ron are practically my brothers; I love them nearly as much as my parents!"

"And you've never…thought that you might feel something more than sisterly love for either of them?" asked Draco suspiciously.

"Well, Ron and I thought we had something in our last year at school but we quickly realised that we were better off as just friends. But with Harry, never. Why? Are you feeling threatened, Draco Malfoy?"

"No," scoffed Draco, while internally he decided that he was going to keep a close eye on those two 'friends' in the future. He didn't really want to talk about them anymore so he decided to try and impress her instead.

"I've booked us in for dinner at The Ivy," he stated but didn't get quite the reply he was expected.

"Oh, thank you, Draco. It's very nice of you to go to so much trouble for me at such short notice."

He tried not to frown as he wondered why she wasn't more excited at dining in one of the most famous restaurants in the country. All the other girls he'd taken there squealed with delight when they'd found out they were going to The Ivy. He supposed that he should be happy enough that she was pleased with the effort he'd put in to their date.

"I'd better warn you that there'll be a few photographers outside The Ivy- there always are."

"Oh, ok. Is there anything to worry about as far as they're concerned; they're not going to temporarily blind me and start calling me offensive names?"

"Well, there won't be that many of them so I don't think the flashes should affect you that much. As for name calling, they'll have no idea who you are so they won't call you anything rude…yet."

"Hmmm, how reassuring," Hermione said with a wry smile on her face.

"The Paparazzi will do anything for a photo and to get a reaction out of someone. If the Press and the general public like you then the Paparazzi will stick with your image as a nice person. However, if they don't like you then photographers will want a bad photo such as one of you getting angry or of you looking like shit. It's just the way this world works."

"You've really made being your girlfriend look appealing!" She scoffed, "But you always get photographs of popular celebrities looking like shit or if someone nice does something even slightly wrong then the Press are all over them! How does that work?"

It took Draco a moment or two to realise that she was waiting for some sort of reply for he had pretty much stopped listening after she had said the word 'girlfriend'. He wasn't sure if she had meant that sentence hypothetically or if she really could see herself as becoming his partner. His brain quickly told him what she had said and he made a hasty reply of "Well, that's life," before feeling quite foolish once again.

"Do you often get photographers following you around?" She asked, while Draco tried to pay attention to everything that she said in order to prevent any further embarrassment.

"Oh yeah, all the time," said Draco casually. "To be honest I'm surprised that a couple of photographers didn't follow us to your apartment. Well, I suppose you do live in Hounslow. The Paparazzi wouldn't even consider me being there unless if I was passing through it to go to Heathrow Airport!" He laughed loudly but stopped abruptly when he caught sight of Hermione's sharp, slightly hurt look.

He only just resisted the urge to hang his head in his hands for offending his date's local town and instead stared dolefully out of the window as the familiar sights of central London flashed past.

"Don't you ever get sick of it?" Hermione wondered in such a soft voice that Draco barely heard her.

"The public demand?" He asked still gazing out of the window.

"Yes. All the photographs, interviews, fans- not being able to live a normal life. You can't do what you want in case someone might be watching you, judging you!"

Draco turned to her with a small smile.

"It's part of the job. Every career has its positives and negatives; mine are just a bit more extreme that's all. You get used to it after while and you try not to let it bother you."

He glanced once more out of the window and his smile increased. "We're nearly there. Don't be nervous about the photographers, it'll all be fine." he said as they pulled up outside the famous restaurant. He could see she was a little nervous but then again, so was he.

Once the car had stopped Draco opened the door and stepped into the mild April evening. Almost at once he was greeted with the flashes of a dozen cameras and people yelling out his name. He smiled and waved to the photographers as he always did and then put his hand back into the car for Hermione to take. But she didn't.

Slightly confused as to why she hadn't taken his hand, he ducked back into the car to talk to her but she wasn't there. Somewhat surprised he walked round to her side of the car, the flashes still raining down upon him, and saw his date standing next to the driver's window talking to his chauffeur!

Momentarily stunned as to why his date wanted to talk to Stan of all people, when he, Draco Malfoy was waiting to escort her into the Ivy, he just stood and stared at her while a few of the photographers laughed at his expression.

He quickly realised that he was looking incredibly stupid and moved forward to usher Hermione into the restaurant. When she saw him walking towards her she smiled and said, "I was just thanking Stan for driving us here."

"That's very nice of you, Hermione but I think we should go inside- I don't particularly want to linger with this lot for much longer!" Draco said quietly so that none of the photographers could hear what he was saying.

"All right then," she smiled prettily at him, "see you later, Stan!"

"Have a good evening, Miss Hermione, Mr Malfoy."

Draco felt incredibly embarrassed that he had to lead his date away from his _driver_ to go to dinner with him and he was about to escort her into the restaurant when her hand on his chest stopped him.

"The, er, the photographers would like a photo of us together." He noticed that she looked nervous once again as the flash of cameras illuminated her small frame.

"Oh, ok." He turned around to face the small crowd and he nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt Hermione grasp on to his hand and felt her tremble slightly next to him. Whether she had sought his hand unconsciously or not he revelled in the way it fit so softly into his. He grinned broadly to the photographers for a few seconds then gently tugged Hermione to the entrance of the Ivy and opened the door.

12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

"Mr. Malfoy, how pleasant to have you back again." The Maître d' welcomed the two into the restaurant as soon as they stepped through the front door.

"Thank you, Richard, I'm glad to be back in London." He shook the head waiter's hand and then motioned towards his date. "And this beautiful young lady is Hermione Granger."

"A pleasure to meet you Miss Granger," Richard said as he kissed her hand.

"Please, just Hermione is fine," she said, her cheeks feeling quite hot from both Draco's compliment and the waiter's greeting.

"Hermione it is then," the Maître d' smiled at her, "your table is waiting for you just over here, Mr. Malfoy." The waiter walked off through the tables and as she followed him Hermione stared around at the beautiful décor and noted a number of familiar famous faces. She also noticed that a number of heads turned as she and Draco made their way to their table and she tried not to feel intimidated under their stare.

The Maître d' pulled out Hermione's chair for her and she thanked him as she took her seat. A man in his late twenties came over to their table and introduced himself as their waiter for that evening and handed them a menu each.

"Can I have a bottle of Champagne please," Draco said to the waiter as he began to peruse the menu.

"Certainly, sir," the waiter replied and went to get their drinks.

Hermione stared down the menu and realised that she was going to have a hard task choosing what to eat as it all looked wonderful.

"Don't forget to order a starter," Draco told her, "and don't have a second thought about how much something costs- you can have anything you want."

Although slightly relieved that he didn't care how much she spent on food she was still going to make sure that she didn't go overboard on what she ordered. She didn't want Draco to think that she was here to spend all his money.

The waiter returned with their Champagne and poured each of them a glass. Draco held his glass towards her and she tapped it with hers.

"Cheers!" he said and they both took a sip.

"Are you ready to order?" the waiter asked, taking a small notebook and pencil from his pocket.

Hermione looked at Draco and he nodded, signalling for her to go first.

"Um, yes, for a starter could I please have the Caesar Salad and for the main could I have the rump steak."

"How would you like the steak cooked?" the waiter asked as he noted her order.

"Well done, please."

"Ok, and for you, sir?"

"I'll have the Sautéed Foie Gras and the Shetland Lamb."

"Certainly sir," the waiter said as he took back their menus and went to give their order to the kitchen.

"So, have you been here often?" Hermione asked as she sipped on some Champagne.

"I try to come here at least a couple of times when I'm in London," he said as he looked around the interior of the restaurant. "The food's always fantastic and it's a good place to be seen at."

Hermione smiled slightly and she had the distinct impression that she was not the first woman that Draco had taken on a date here. She certainly hoped that the staff didn't think of her as easy, fame seeking or a gold-digger, the sort of women she expected that he had brought here previously.

"So, what do you do for a living?" he asked her.

"I'm a lawyer- well, a barrister. I became fully qualified last year so I'm still pretty new to it."

"A barrister? Are they the ones who have to wear a wig?"

"Yes, it's not as uncomfortable as it looks but it can get pretty hot in the summer."

"You've only just qualified, huh? What did you have to do to become one?"

"Well, I studied Law at Cambridge for 3 years and luckily, I just scraped a first. Then I had to take a Bar Vocational course for a year, which is kind of like Barrister school and I did that just down the road from here in Inner Temple, just of Tottenham Court Road. I got an 'Outstanding' from that and I was taken on by Barrister John Hatchett for 12 months and I gained my certificate of qualification last September."

She had spoken quite quickly and Draco had not been able to take it all in. To be honest, he was completely intimidated by her intelligence and independence. A first in Cambridge and all this other stuff! Man was he wrong to try and pick a fight with a barrister last night!

"Wow, that sounds like it was an awful lot of hard work."

"Mmm," she agreed, "my family and friends wouldn't talk to me whenever I had exams coming up in case I went berserk at them! It's still pretty hard work but not as hard as the second half of my pupillage- that was insane."

Draco took a long draught of his champagne and then refilled his glass.

"I obviously haven't had any high profile cases yet but everything's is going well. I've won the majority of my cases and, thankfully, I'm beginning to pay off a tiny bit of my debt."

"You're in debt?" he asked surprised, money came so easily to him that it seemed odd that the person opposite him was short of cash.

"I was a student for 5 years! Of course I'm in debt! Some of us have to work hard for our money, you know."

"Hey! I work quite hard for my money!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him and sipped some champagne.

"Ok, that's not quite true but my life isn't all fun and games."

"Please, I bet you've never done a hard day's work in your life!"

"Define a 'hard day's work'?"

"Ok, have you ever been given a case at 7pm and had to prepare the trial for the next morning?"

"Nope."

"Have you ever had to write a 10,000 word dissertation?"

"Dissi- what?"

"It's a long essay or thesis."

"Oh, no."

"Have you ever had to study 'til ridiculous hours of the morning so that you can pass your exams?"

"No."

"Have you-"

"-All right, all right so I haven't done much hard work but you chose your life and I chose mine. I wouldn't change my career, would you?"

Hermione smiled. "No."

The waiter appeared with their starters and they both tucked in to their food in silence; Draco still slightly intimidated by the gifted young woman in front of him and Hermione unsure what to say to the actor that they wouldn't argue over.

Just as they were beginning to finish their starters an attractive young man, not much older than them walked towards their table.

"Draco! I thought it was you over here, how are you doing?"

"Cedric! I'm doing fine, thanks," smiled Draco as he shook the man's hand. "Allow me to introduce you to my date," he turned towards Hermione and said, "Hermione, this is Cedric Diggory, we're gonna be working together on this new film. Ced, this is Hermione Granger, a Cambridge-graduated barrister."

Cedric smiled warmly at her and kissed her hand. Hermione felt her cheeks grow red hot as did the place where the dazzlingly handsome actor's lips had met her skin.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hermione," he said and she could not take her eyes off of his.

"You too, Cedric," she breathed and then suddenly became aware that she was staring at him and looked away quickly.

"So, how did Draco manage to convince an intellectual beauty like you to go on a date with him?" asked Cedric smiling jokingly at Draco who did not smile back.

"He shouted at me," said Hermione grinning broadly, "and then refused to leave me alone."

"How charming," said Cedric looking puzzled.

"So, when do you start work on this new film?" she asked, refilling her glass of Champagne.

"Well it's still in pre-production for the moment. We've got a read through in a couple of week's time and then after that things will really start to kick off with the filming."

"Wow, how exciting!"

"Yeah, well this is my first big film. I've done some smaller stuff-"

"-Yes, I've seen you in 'Sunflowers and Daisies'. It's one of my favourite films; the cinematography in that is outstanding! You were very good too, of course."

"Thanks," smiled Cedric, looking very pleased that Hermione had seen his film. "Well, you can see that this film is obviously a big step up for me with people like Draco and Cho Chang starring in it."

"Cho Chang is in it? Draco never told me that! I love her work; she's such a great actress!"

Throughout this conversation Draco sat staring at the two of them, getting increasingly jealous. All of his conversations with Hermione had been somewhat stilted and uncomfortable for them both, but along came Diggory and she was talking to him like she'd known him for ages! They were obviously attracted to each other- even Draco could see that and he thought that the sooner he got them away from each other the better.

He decided to use Hermione's trick from the previous evening and as he reached to take a piece of bread from the bowl his other hand slipped and the contents on his glass went all over Cedric's shirt.

Hermione gasped and at once reached for one of the serviettes and began dabbing at his shirt while Draco made gracious apologies and Cedric stated that it didn't matter.

"It's only a shirt; I've got plenty of others at home. I had better get back to my friends, anyway. It was good to see you, Draco and lovely to meet you, Hermione. I hope to see you on the set at some point. Enjoy your evening."

"Yes, you too!" Hermione said as he walked towards his table.

She turned back to Draco and was surprised to find that their plates had been cleared and the main course was now being served.

"So, what is this film actually about?" asked Hermione as she cut into her steak.

"Er, it's a bit complicated. I don't think I could do the story justice while I'm eating."

"Oh, ok." Said Hermione and they continued eating in silence.

The truth was that Draco didn't want to talk about anything that was remotely to do with Cedric as he feared that she would prattle on about him forever and ditch him to hang out with Diggory.

Hermione's mind was pretty much focused on Cedric. She knew it was wrong because she was on a date with Draco and it seemed unfair to him but she just could not stop thinking about Cedric! She kept glancing over to his table as she ate and a couple of times he caught her eye and they would both smile at each other before quickly looking away. After ten minutes or so of her giddy thoughts she mentally slapped herself and tried to treat this like a normal date; as though she actually liked the person she was sat opposite to.

"What do you like to do in your spare time?" asked Hermione as she attempted to get some conversation going with the sulky Draco.

"Well, there are lots of parties that need to be attended for PR reasons."

"Not just the free drinks then?" Hermione joked.

"That's an added bonus," smirked Draco. "I dunno, I quite like to play golf- Blaise is usually my partner, and I also like to work out in the gym."

"You mean you weren't born with rippling muscles?" asked Hermione in mock surprise.

"You seem to like to tease people a lot."

"Only you!" She laughed and then cringed and said, "Oops I did it again!"

"That sounds like something Draco normally says the morning after the night before." Said a sultry female voice.

They both looked around to see a beautiful, slender woman with dark cropped hair and ruby red lips.

"Daphne!" exclaimed Draco and got up from his seat to kiss the woman on both cheeks. "How are you? I haven't seen you in months!"

"I'm good thanks, Draco- I've been keeping busy with a bit of this and that. I hear you're over here to do a new film with pretty boy Diggory over there."

"Yeah, filming's supposed to get started in the next month or so."

"Oh, that's great, Draco. I'm really pleased for you!" She looked round at Hermione and said, "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

"Oh yes, of course. Daphne, this is Hermione Granger, my date for this evening. Hermione, this is Daphne Greengrass, an old friend of mine-"

"-and an ex-girlfriend don't forget. It's nice to meet you Hermione."

"You too," said Hermione as she shook Daphne's hand.

"I suppose he picked you up from a club, huh? That's what he usually does but he doesn't normally take them out for dinner, do you, Draco?"

"Hey, I took you out for dinner here." Draco, said as he casually slung an arm around Daphne's shoulder.

"What and I should feel grateful for that, should I?" She said as she smirked up at him and poked him playfully in the chest.

"Yes you should! Like you said, I don't take many on proper dates and you just happened to get lucky because I was obviously in a generous mood when I met you."

"He's such a charmer, isn't he?" Daphne said to Hermione and then rolled her eyes.

Draco wasn't sure why he was going to do it but he decided to see if he could make Hermione jealous.

"Hey, do you remember that night in Paris?" he asked Daphne.

"Oh God, yes. I think about that night all the time- you certainly showed some stamina that evening. I could barely walk the next day!"

They both laughed and Hermione tried to smile too but found that her facial muscles just wouldn't work quite then.

"Hang on a moment-" said Draco as he openly stared at Daphne's chest. "-you've had your boobs done, haven't you?"

Daphne put on an offended face and said, "I can't believe it's taken you this long to notice, Draco! What do you think?"

Before Hermione could hear just what Draco thought of Daphne's new breasts Hermione excused herself to the toilet.

She didn't really need to use it but she just wanted to get away from the pair of them. Along from the ladies toilet there was a fire exit that was slightly open and so she slipped outside to get some fresh air.

A waitress was smoking outside and when she saw Hermione she made to put out her cigarette but Hermione stopped her.

"Please, don't stop on my account."

"Um, thanks. Do you want one?" the waitress offered.

"Oh, no I don't smoke thanks."

The waitress took a long draught of her cigarette while Hermione leant her head against the wall of the restaurant.

"Ugh, how do you put up with all these arrogant celebrities?" she asked the girl.

"Ah, well you get used to it I suppose. They're not all that bad. You're with Draco Malfoy, right?" Hermione nodded. "What's he like?"

"Arrogant, rude, selfish and conceited."

"Sounds like a nice guy!" laughed the waitress.

"The only reason I agreed to go out with him is so that my friend can spend some time with his manager."

"Hell you don't need any reason to go out with Draco Malfoy- he's rich and fit! What more is there to want?"

"You can have him if you want. I certainly don't. If it wasn't for Ginny then I'd have left him all on his own at the bar last night."

"Well, if you don't want to dump him for a bit then you might as well try and take him for all that he's worth. If he wants to spend a fortune on you then let him! It's not like he can't afford it. How many chances are you likely to get at being treated like a Princess?"

Hermione pondered this as she stared up at the stars in the sky.

"No one's perfect," said the waitress.

"Some are better than others."

"True, that Diggory bloke on one of my tables doesn't seem too bad."

"Mmm," agreed Hermione, "you're not wrong there. If I hadn't been on a date with another man then I probably would've snogged him right there in the middle of the restaurant."

They both started laughing and Hermione felt a bit better.

"I think you should just have some fun and try and enjoy yourself," said the waitress, "and if he really is a dick then you should sell your story to a newspaper. That'll earn you a few bob!"

"Thanks, er…"

"Rosie, Rosie King."

"Thanks, Rosie!"

"No problem, Miss! Enjoy the rest of your evening!"

Hermione mulled over what Rosie had said as she made her way back through the restaurant. She supposed that the waitress was right in that she should try and enjoy the lifestyle that Draco was offering her but she still didn't feel right about using him like that.

She decided to try and see the good in Draco- sure he had plenty of faults but if she was going to spend more time with him then she was going to try and see his positives. Fixing a smile on to her face she walked over to their table to find a steaming plate of treacle tart and clotted cream.

"I hope you don't mind that I ordered a dessert for you."

"Oh, no that's fine, thank you." She said and mentally added 'can be thoughtful' to her mental list of positive qualities.

'So when is Teddy's birthday party?" asked Draco as he tucked into his treacle tart.

"It's next Saturday, but you really don't have to come. Teddy won't mind if you're not there- he'll be too hyper celebrating turning six."

"I'd like to come. I'm pretty sure that I don't have anything on next Saturday but I'd have to double check with Blaise."

"Well, before you get too excited I have to warn you that it's fancy dress."

Draco nearly chocked on his tart and had to take a sip of Champagne.

"Fancy dress? You _all_ dress up, even the adults?"

"Yes, it's kind of a tradition; apparently Harry always used to have fancy dress parties before he attended Watchlings and now Remus and Tonks have decided to let Teddy have them too. There's a different theme each year."

"What's the theme this year?" Draco asked with a growing dread.

"What you wanted or want to be when you grow up."

Draco made a non-committal face that showed he was neither totally aghast with the theme nor particularly pleased with it.

"Before you say anything you should be relieved," cut in Hermione, "last year we all had to dress as Teddy bears to commemorate the one, true Teddy!"

Draco creased his brow as he tried to imagine Hermione and all her friends dressed up as Teddy bears.

"You should have seen the three-legged race; it was a massacre, there were teddies on the ground everywhere!"

"Hang on- there are games too?"

"Well there has to be some entertainment. We don't just stand around the whole time- it is a party after all!"

Draco groaned quietly so that Hermione couldn't hear him. He had pretty much committed himself to a child's fancy dress party where he was more than likely expected to take part in a series of humiliating games. What had he done?

"I completely understand if you can't come anymore," said Hermione placing her hand on top of his. "It's humiliating enough if you're good friends with the other party guests but you don't even know them."

Although every fibre in his body was telling him to say he couldn't go he knew that if he wanted any kind of a relationship with Hermione then he'd have to attend this party.

"Hey, I told you I was coming. I don't want to let Teddy down now, do I?"

Hermione beamed at him and carried on eating her pudding.

"So, what did you want to be when you were a kid?" she asked.

"An actor." He said simply.

"You must have wanted to be something else other than an actor, surely?"

"I don't think so," Draco said frowning.

"Well, I'm sure your mother will know," she said happily.

Draco highly doubted it but he decided he'd ring her up and ask her anyway.

"What did you want to be? He asked her.

"Ahhh, I'm not telling," she said mischievously, "you're just gonna have to wait and see!"

"I look forward to it," he drawled, a smirk prominent on his face.

After their dessert they were served some coffees and Draco enquired what Hermione would like to do next.

"Well, it's a nice evening; we could always walk down to the Thames."

"That sounds like a great idea," Draco said, although really he was quite apprehensive as he barely ever travelled around London un-chauffeured, but he was determined to keep Hermione happy and so he had agreed.

Once Draco had paid for their dinner and bid farewell to the staff the two of them stepped out into the starry night.

"Will they follow us?" asked Hermione as a number of flashes greeted their appearance in front of the photographers.

"If we pose for a minute then they're normally satisfied with the number of photos they get. A couple of them will probably follow us but they'll try and be discreet to catch us doing something we shouldn't be!" He grinned and Hermione smiled slightly nervously back. She didn't like being in front of the photographers very much but also didn't fancy being chased down the street.

"Let's get this over with then," she sighed and they automatically joined hands and walked towards the flashing lights. They stood and smiled at the cameras for a while before Draco gave them a short wave and gently tugged Hermione towards Charing Cross Road.

Hermione let go of the breath that she'd been holding and felt herself relax as she and Draco walked past all the shops and traffic. She only now became aware that she was holding Draco's hand and realised that she wasn't totally repulsed by the feel of his fingers wrapped around hers. It felt kind of nice to be with somebody.

Every now and again Draco was stopped by some members of the public and he tried to be very polite to them despite the fact that they were interrupting his date because he got the impression that Hermione liked well-mannered people. He signed autographs, posed in photos and laughed and joked with the fans.

Each time after he had been stopped he apologised to Hermione but she told him not to worry about it. She was also pretty sure that he secretly loved the attention and adoration he received from the fans as it gave his ego a lovely little boost. He somehow could not fail to mention to the fans how lavish and money-filled his life was and she knew that he was trying to impress her. It did not work.

The air had a slight chill to it now and Hermione shivered slightly as they entered Trafalgar Square. Noting this Draco took off his jacket and handed it towards her, "Here," he said.

"Oh, Draco don't be silly, I'll be fine."

"No, I insist!"

Hermione sighed and smiled as she put the jacket over her shoulders.

"It suits you!" Draco said laughing, while Hermione looked at him disbelievingly. "Seriously, you could set a whole new fashion trend!"

"Is that so?" Hermione chuckled and jogged over to one of the big fountains before posing in various different positions with the jacket. "So I could be on the next cover of Vogue looking just like this?" she asked as she stood with her hands braced against the wall of the fountain and her legs crossed.

Draco thought she looked incredibly sexy but he got the impression she thought she looked like a joke.

"I'd certainly buy it if it had you on the front looking like that- hell I'd have it framed and put up in my home!"

"Which home?" she asked as she walked back towards him.

"All of them!"

She laughed and slapped him playfully on the arm. "Now who's teasing whom?"

They continued their walk down towards the Thames and then strolled along the embankment. They walked in silence, which Hermione found quite uncomfortable as she thought the peace was quite awkward. He, however, seemed content to just be with her and made no attempt to strike up a conversation.

They paused by the wall and watched the many tourist river boats cruising along the Thames. None of the cameras flashed in their direction but Hermione was sure that if any of the passengers on board knew that Draco Malfoy was standing there then she would once again feel like she was standing outside the Ivy.

Draco was aware that he had been uncharacteristically quiet for the latter part of their walk but he had been considering when the most appropriate moment would be to kiss her. Should he wait until he dropped her off at her apartment, when they were back in the car or should he do it now?

The setting that they were in was quite romantic with the lights of London reflecting on the water below them, the stars twinkling brightly up above and the river lapping gently against the embankment. Perhaps he should do it now. He quickly looked around to see if he could make out any photographers, but he didn't see any.

He softly cleared his throat and turned towards her but just as he moved forward to capture her lips she turned away and said "Do you think we should make our way back to meet Stan now?"

Draco quickly moved his body back into a normal position and just resisted the urge to yell out in frustration. That _bloody_ driver! How had Stan managed to spoil his evening without even being present?!

Draco schooled his features into an enigmatic smile and said "Sure, that sounds great."

12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

Draco walked Hermione back up to her apartment, still sulking slightly over his missed opportunity earlier that evening.

"Well, this is me," said Hermione when they had reached her front door. "I'll give Remus and Tonks your details tomorrow so they can send you the information about the party."

"Thanks," said Draco.

"So I guess I'll see you next Saturday then."

"Yeah, I look forward to it."

The conversation was overformal and awkward and Hermione decided that it was probably best that they parted ways.

"Thank you for the dinner, Draco. It was…lovely."

And before he could say or do anything she kissed him on the cheek, said "I'll see you soon," and stepped inside her apartment, closing the door in his face.

Draco stared at her door for a few seconds, bemused at the way she had disappeared so quickly. He sighed at the lack of affection he had received that evening and made the solitary journey back down to the car.

* * *

A/N I'd just like to point out that I am not an expert on law, the Ivy or the lives of celebrities. I did some research on both becoming a barrister and the food at the Ivy but if there are any mistakes then I apologise.

I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter but if you have any suggestions on what all the characters wished they would be when they grew up then I'd really like to hear them. I have them all pretty much sorted but your ideas might be better than mine, so let me know!!!!!!! The Story is really starting to take shape in my mind, (I never even intended Cedric or Cho to be in this story until I planned out this chapter!) so I'm feeling much happier about where this is heading.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter! I'm going to be visiting my sister in Vancouver which I am SO excited about!

I really hope to see you soon (i.e. that I update soon!)

Don't forget to review!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	5. When I Grow Up I Want To Be

Hey guys! Many apologies for the late update! Uni is over for a few months now so that should (hopefully) mean more regular updates!

Many thanks to WolfMusic (thanks very much for your input, it made me giggle! Not sure about Snape- we'll have to wait and see!), ginsensu, -jellyacey-, Lady-Crymsyn and SweetBlackAngel16 for their reviews.

A quick note to say that I have changed to location of Godric's Hollow for my own convenience!

Oh and something that might interest you. The dress that I used for Hermione's date with Draco (the link to which is on my bio page) is stalking me! I cannot tell you how shell shocked I was to see the image of that dress advertised in a shop down the road from my Uni. And then, my uni used the image to advertise dress rentals for our Summer ball! Of all the dresses in all the world…I dunno I just thought it was a bit freaky!

Anyway, on with the story…

* * *

Hermione looked unhappily at her reflection in the mirror. The things she did for her friends! She sighed as she slid a grip into her hair. The days had absolutely flown by! She couldn't believe that it'd been a week since she'd gone to The Ivy with Draco Malfoy and he wasn't about to let her forget it! He'd sent her lavender roses every day of the week and she was beginning to run out of rooms to put the beautiful flowers in. While she appreciated the gesture she still couldn't fight the feeling that he was just trying too hard to win her affections. She shrugged her shoulders; he probably wasn't used to women not throwing themselves at his feet.

Thinking back to their date she cringed at the way that she had posed in the middle of Trafalgar Square (for which she blamed the champagne) and then their abrupt departure outside her front door. She had completely avoided talking to her friends about the date. Ginny had phoned her a couple of times during the week as had Molly and Lily but she had fobbed them off, saying that she was busy with work and she'd talk to them at the weekend. Truth be told she was still annoyed at them all for convening on her doorstep to meet Draco.

She had mentioned nothing of her date to her co-workers and luckily she had not divulged the location of her office to Draco so he didn't send any flowers there. She wasn't sure why she didn't mention that she'd had a date to her friends in Law; they were all normally pretty open about their private lives and they'd met Harry and Ron plenty of times. It wasn't that she was embarrassed about going out with Draco, it was more that she knew how people perceived the women who went out with Draco Malfoy- and they weren't thought highly of. She knew that she was nothing like most of the women that the actor dated but she didn't really want people to jump to expectations about her personal life. She knew that they were her friends and they probably wouldn't think about her that way but she didn't want to have them bombarding her with questions about him.

She'd have to tell them eventually though- if they carried on dating anyway. Today would be a big test of his commitment to this…'acquaintanceship' she supposed was the correct term. She could tell that he had regretted his decision to come to the party once she had told him it was fancy dress. She briefly wondered whether he would actually dress up but she highly doubted it. She hoped that he at least turned up- for Teddy's sake more than her own. When she had phoned the Lupins about Draco coming to the party, Tonks had cheerfully told her that Teddy wouldn't stop talking about the famous actor he had met!

She was in no doubt that Draco would be embarrassed about the events during the party whether he dressed up or not. Hermione knew that she'd be mortified if she had to dress up in front of a group of strangers and be expected to partake in silly games. She did feel slightly sorry for him but, she reasoned, his self esteem needed to be taken down a peg or two. She wondered what he would dress up as if he did deem himself capable of wearing a costume. Hermione wrinkled her nose at that idea- he's an actor! He dresses up all the time. Today _was _slightly different to his normal day job but he should be used to 'pretending'. She could not really think of anything that he would want to be so gave up trying to picture him in different professions. Besides, the taxi would be here soon.

She smoothed down her costume once again and made sure that her curls were pinned back. She was glad that they were holding the event in the Potter's back garden as usual because the taxi fare wouldn't be as expensive as if she was going to the Lupin's. Hermione briefly pictured herself on some form of public transport in her outfit and could only cringe at the shocked expressions she would undoubtedly have received. It would be bad enough just walking down to the taxi!

Her doorbell rang and Hermione quickly grabbed her coat, bag and the present for Teddy before heading out into what she knew was going to be a day of madness and mayhem.

1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

Draco, too, was looking at his reflection in the mirror; however he was quite pleased with what he saw. He had phoned his mother during the week to see if she remembered whether he had wanted to be something other than an actor and apparently he had. Now that Draco thought about it he did have a slight recollection of running to the window when he was little whenever a siren went past his house.

Despite the fact that he was ok with his costume, Draco was totally dreading the party. There were just going to be too many opportunities to make a fool out of himself and he _hated_ making a fool out of himself, especially in front of a woman he was trying to impress. He was very relieved that Blaise was going to be at the party too otherwise he may very well have had to phone Hermione with some fake meeting he had to attend. Hopefully with two people there that he knew, he would be able to find someone to talk to and avoid participating in the childish games.

At the thought of spending time with Hermione he felt his pulse quicken slightly. He was not overly impressed with the way his body reacted to any thoughts of the intelligent young woman. He had never really felt this way about anybody before- sure he had lusted after plenty of women and had, more often than not, had that lust sated. But his heart had never before skipped a beat over anything- let alone a woman. Somehow that passionate, opinionated, confident barrister had gotten under his skin and he didn't know what to do about it. He had only been in her company twice after all!

He wasn't stupid enough to believe that his feelings for Hermione were entirely different to those he felt for other women- he still lusted after her, there was no mistaking that, but he also wanted to just be near her and impress her and make her want to like him. He'd never had to try to get someone to like him before…

He had sent her flowers everyday for the past week but, reflecting on that, he had to admit that he might have overdone it there. He had been trying to be romantic and sending flowers was something his characters had done an awful lot of in his films. He supposed that real life was quite different to the movies so he had decided to give her something different today as a gift. He picked up the small box and opened it to reveal a delicate gold necklace with a diamond encrusted heart pendant. He hoped she wasn't too proud to accept it. He'd have to give it to Hermione discreetly so that Teddy wouldn't be upset that someone else was getting presents during his party. He had bought the small boy a miniature car that he could drive around his garden. He frowned; he assumed that the Lupins _had_ a garden. He hoped that they wouldn't think that he was trying to show them up with the gift but if he hadn't spent a fair amount on Teddy then all of Hermione's friends would think he was stingy with his money. He didn't really mind spending the money on Teddy and couldn't wait to see the boy's face when he gave it to him later.

He checked his watch; it was probably time to call the driver to take him to the party. Apparently it was being held at the Potter's home just outside of Leatherhead in Surrey, so it would take him about 45 minutes to get there- that meant he'd be spending about an hour and a half in the car in total. He looked around and picked up the script for his new film. He might as well read through his lines while he was travelling as he doubted he'd get much time for work today!

1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

Godrics Hollow was a small village just outside Greater London and was a place that Hermione had been on a number of occasions visiting her friend Harry and his parents Lily and James. The Potters lived in a large cottage just off the road from the village square with an extensive garden that backed into some woodland.

Hermione paid the taxi driver before stepping out into the bright but fairly chilly sunlight. Balloons adorned the front of the house but she walked straight round to the back garden to where a tall, white marquee stood and a number of strangely dressed individuals congregated inside it.

"Hermione!" shrieked a female voice and a black robed figure separated from the main group and ran over to her. As the woman got closer she realised that it was Ginny- dressed as a nun!

Hermione burst out laughing as her closest female friend came to a stop in front of her. Ginny smirked and waited for her friend to get a grip on herself.

"A nun?" Hermione managed to wheeze out between laughs, "You can't be serious!"

"Hey, if you had to grow up with six brothers then I think you might've understood where I was coming from. The idea of a life without any boys was highly appealing to a small girl who was constantly teased and ridiculed."

"They still do all that stuff now! What made you consider an alternative life path?" Hermione asked smirking slightly. "It wouldn't have anything to do with that time Ron caught you and Dean Thomas snogging behind the chapel, would it?"

"Hermione!" Ginny slapped her playfully on the arm.

"Hah! You couldn't do without a male influence now, could you?"

Ginny stood with her arms on her hips and rolled her eyes, "You're unbelievable," she muttered. "You know, I don't think that your outfit is any more believable than mine. You're about as co-ordinated as a drunken baby!"

"I know that! Why do you think I've ended up as a barrister and not a ballerina?" Hermione unconsciously smoothed down the netting of her tutu.

"I suppose so but I just can't see you parading around your parent's living room pretending to be a ballet dancer!"

"Look who's talking, Mother Teresa!"

"All right, all right, point taken. Come on," Ginny said as she pulled Hermione towards the marquee, "everyone wants to hear about last week."

"Oh, great," Hermione muttered as she let herself be brought before the others.

Lily was there dressed as a vet, Molly as a teacher, Andromeda Tonks as a nurse, Fleur with Victoire in her arms as princesses, Tonks as a fairy and, bringing up the rear, was Luna dressed as an astronaut.

"Oh, Hermione, you look lovely," Molly cried, rushing forwards to give her surrogate daughter a hug.

"As if you would've ever been a dancer!" joked Tonks as she sat down to rest her expectant frame.

"Huh! That coming from someone who wanted to be a fairy! What sort of reality did you grow up in?" Hermione asked as she accepted a glass of orange juice from Lily.

"My Nymphadora had a very vivid imagination when she was little," Andromeda said as she smoothed her daughter's purple hair.

Tonks batted her mother's hands away and scowled up at her. "Stop calling me that! I swear if you call me that in front of Draco Malfoy…"

She let the name hang in the air and they all looked expectantly at Hermione.

"He is coming, isn't he?" asked Luna offhandedly, her long blonde hair flowing down the back of the suit and her helmet held under her arm.

"As far as I know," Hermione shrugged.

"Teddy will not shut up about him!" laughed Tonks. "We showed him one of Draco's films, well, one of the cleaner ones, and he just stared open mouthed at the TV for ages! I've tried to explain that he might not be coming to the party but Teddy is adamant that he'll be here!"

Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "He said he was coming…" and the bunch of flowers he had sent her yesterday had enclosed a note saying that he'd see her at the party.

"Soooo, did you have a good time last week?" asked Lily.

"It was quite nice, yes, thank you."

"Is that it?" asked Ginny. "Is that all we're going to get?"

"Yep!" Hermione grinned while Ginny scowled. "Well what do you want me to say?" she asked the group.

"Well, where did you go?" asked Fleur.

"They went to The Ivy," said Ginny.

"How did you know?" asked Hermione, frowning.

"I saw it in here," replied Ginny, reaching into her bag and pulling out the latest edition of a women's gossip magazine.

"You're in _Heat!_" exclaimed Lily, "Oh, how exciting."

Hermione rolled her eyes while Ginny thumbed through the pages of the glossy magazine before coming to a double page showing lots of photos of various celebrities. The caption at the top of the page was entitled _'Weekend Celeb Watch' _and Ginny pointed to a picture on the top right of the second page where Hermione could clearly recognise herself and Draco standing outside the famous restaurant.

The women around her all squealed and Tonks tutted impatiently as she was unable to see from her sitting position.

"Oh, you look like a proper couple holding hands like that," observed Luna.

"You look so beautiful, Hermione dear," Mrs. Weasley beamed.

"Slightly scared though," laughed Andromeda, placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Let alone scared; I was terrified. The flashing of the cameras and the shouting from the photographers was really intimidating."

"So, what was ze Ivy like? Was ze food good?" asked Fleur.

"Oh, yes, the food was gorgeous and the décor was beautiful."

"And Draco? What was he like?" enquired Lily.

Hermione frowned; she wasn't really sure what to say. On occasion Draco had been charming and sweet while at other times he had been conceited, arrogant and rude. "He was, you know, a Hollywood actor." She said, uncertainly.

She knew that they were not very satisfied with this answer so she decided to change the subject. "So, where are all the guys?" she asked Tonks.

"They're playing cricket in the field," she answered.

"And they've left us to do all the work!" laughed Lily.

"Well nothing's changed there then!" smiled Hermione. "What do you want me to do to help, Tonks?"

"Most of it's already done but you can help Ginny set up the table for the food."

"Ok," said Hermione as the women all separated off to their different jobs.

"So come on; there must be more to your date then the blunt answers you've been giving." Ginny said while she laid out paper plates into the places on the long white table.

"Well, I don't know if I really want to talk to you about it after you hijacked the start of my date." Hermione grumbled, frowning at the nun.

"Oh, come on. You're not still mad about that are you? I'm sorry but he's _really_ famous! If I'd been going on a date with someone you really wanted to meet I'm sure you would've wanted to come along and see him."

"I may have wanted to but I wouldn't have wanted to get in the way!"

"It's not like you really cared about how the date went anyway. It's like the others said- we may not have got a chance to see him again! Did you really want to deny everyone their one claim to fame?" Ginny asked while handing Hermione a bunch of forks.

"If you'd just asked-"

"You and I know perfectly well what you would've said."

"Not necessarily," Hermione said placatingly. Ginny just raised an eyebrow at her. "Ok, I would've said no," she conceded.

"Hermione, I'm sorry, ok?" Ginny said, looking her friend straight in the eye. "I promise I won't blag around your business again. I was just kinda excited for you."

Hermione smiled. "I know, and if there's anything that I don't mind people hearing about then I will let you know."

Ginny grinned and the girls carried on setting out the table.

"Can you talk to me about your date with Draco now?" Ginny proceeded carefully.

"I suppose so," Hermione sighed. "He wasn't _quite_ as bad as I thought he was going to be but he was very rude and conceited on occasions."

"Well, that's because he's had people eating out of his hand since his first movie came out! He's a Hollywood actor! What did you expect?"

"Oh, come on, they're not all like that, surely?" Hermione said looking exasperated. Ginny just shrugged. "I'm not going to let his lifestyle be an excuse for his personality. Just because he's rich and famous it doesn't mean that he can get away with treating people like they're his inferiors."

"Did he make you feel like that?" The redhead asked.

"No," Hermione pondered, "not really. Although there was this time when an ex-girlfriend of his came to talk to him and he started talking to her about some stupid night in Paris where it sounds like they had sex a hundred times in one night. And then, he full on stares at her chest in the middle of the restaurant and asks her if she's had a boob job! What sort of person does that?"

Ginny laughed and Hermione scowled at her.

"Isn't it obvious?" the nun giggled, while Hermione just looked perplexed. "He was trying to make you jealous!"

"What! No, there's no way… Why would he want to make me jealous?"

"Well, it's like I said- he's used to people eating out of the palm of his hand and I doubt that he was getting that from you! If you weren't paying him enough attention then maybe his ego was getting a bit battered and he tried to see if he could get a reaction out of you."

"He did get a reaction; disgust. I nipped out to get some fresh air after that."

"I still can't believe _Draco Malfoy_ was trying to make you jealous! You didn't make _him_ jealous before that did you?"

"No, I…Oh, wait…"

"What? What happened?" Ginny asked eagerly.

"You know that film I made you watch that you thought was really boring."

"Oh, yeah, something about dandelions-"

"It was _Sunflowers and Daisies !"_

"Close enough."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, do you remember the main character in that?"

"How could I forget? He was gorgeous- the only good thing about the film. What's his name…Hang on, you didn't meet him, did you?"

"Yep," Hermione grinned. "Cedric Diggory was at another table with some friends and he came over to talk to Draco."

"Oh, God, if I'd been in such close proximity to those two I think I would've passed out!"

Hermione laughed. "Cedric was really lovely; he seemed like a real nice guy. And, he's going to be working on the new film with Draco and Cho Chang is going to be in it too!"

"Wow! That's so cool!"

"I know! I told Cedric that I'd seen _Sunflowers and Daisies _and he seemed really pleased! It was so easy to talk to him, whereas everything with Draco had been kinda awkward."

"Wow, no wonder he tried to make you jealous. You're totally into Diggory!"

Hermione looked guilty. "Yes, I can see why he did that now. Oh…" she shook herself suddenly, "no that's wrong. I really shouldn't be thinking about someone else when I'm seeing Draco. He might be a bit of a pompous prat but that's not fair on him."

"Ah well, if things don't work out with Draco then who knows? You might hit it off with Cedric Diggory instead!"

"Yeah, maybe. Eugh, I don't really want to talk about it now. Why don't you tell me how things went with Blaise?"

"It was great- probably the best first date I've ever had! He's so wonderful; he's really gentle and caring and he's a really good listener. We just talked all night."

"You both talked? Or did _you_ just talk?" Hermione asked, smirking slightly.

"We both talked, thank you very much! I can't wait until he gets here, I wonder what he's going to dress up as!"

"Blaise is coming too? Oh, good. That means I won't have to stick next to Draco all day!"

"Yeah, Tonks felt kinda sorry that Draco was going to a party full of strangers so she said I could bring Blaise along if the date went well!" Ginny was smiling broadly and Hermione was very pleased to see her friend so happy after her break up only a few days ago.

"Have you spoken to Draco much this week?" Ginny asked.

"No, not at all; I've been too busy with work. He's sent me lavender roses everyday though!"

Ginny raised her eyebrows in shock. "Wow, he's keen!"

"I know! I'm running out of places to put them! You didn't happen to mention to him that lavender roses are my favourites, did you?"

"Maybe," Ginny smiled slyly. "I-"

"Will you two stop gossiping over there!" cried Mrs. Weasley heckling them from the other end of the marquee. "The party's supposed to start in half an hour!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and muttered "Mothers!" under her breath as the two women quickly increased their pace.

"I can't believe you're going to make Blaise meet your family after just one date!"

"Don't worry, they're all on strict instructions not to intimidate, torture or embarrass him."

"That's not going to work."

Ginny sighed. "I know."

1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

His _new_ driver stopped the car outside a large cottage which had balloons attached to the front door. This must be the place, Draco thought numbly. He was nervous, possibly even more nervous than his first date with Hermione last week. So many things could go wrong today…

He took a deep breath and then stepped out of the car. He retrieved the huge, wrapped present from the trunk of the car and carried it cautiously round to the side of the house. He wished he'd asked Hermione to meet him out the front of the Potter's so that he didn't have to walk in on his own.

He rested with the present for a moment and was quite startled to see a nun moving towards him. Having momentarily forgotten that he was attending a fancy dress party it took Draco a few moments to recognise Blaise's date who was smiling happily as she hurried towards him. With a stab of horror, Draco realised that he had forgotten her name. Blaise must've said it to him at least a hundred times but his mind was completely blank!

She was only a couple of metres away when it flashed through his brain- Ginny!

"Hey, Draco," she said, "need a hand?"

"No, I'm ok thanks, Ginny, I can manage. Cool outfit," he drawled.

"Thanks," she laughed.

"Did you really want to be a nun?" he enquired as he walked slowly with her and the big box.

"I have six brothers, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, good point."

"So, for how long did you want to be a fireman?"

"I'm not sure to be honest but I think I'd be doing a bit better with this box if I was one!"

They emerged from the side of the house and Draco saw a large back garden dominated by a white marquee where a number of bizarrely dressed people stood.

"Is Blaise here yet?" he enquired as they made their way to the other people.

"Not yet, he should be here any minute. I was going to meet him out front but I'll just drop you off to Hermione first."

Draco frowned that Hermione hadn't wanted to meet him out front too but quickly changed his expression into something that looked happier when he noticed that all the figures in the marquee were looking at them. And, he noted, they were all women.

"Where's all the others?" he asked, slightly hopefully that Hermione's two best friends weren't going to be there.

"All the guys are playing cricket on the field but they'd better get back soon otherwise Teddy's going to be late for his party!"

Draco nearly dropped the present as he saw Hermione walking towards him. She was dressed as a ballerina with a pretty pale yellow tutu which had a long skirt rather than a short one. Her hair was tied back in a messy bun but a couple of curls had escaped and framed her face beautifully.

"You look great," he said when she had closed the distance between them.

"Thanks, you too," she returned the compliment.

Ginny left them to it and turned back to go and wait for Blaise.

"I never would have guessed you wanted to be a ballet dancer." Draco said as they continued the walk to the marquee.

"Yes, I know. At one point I was deluded enough to think that I had the grace and the poise to be a prima ballerina but after a few lessons I had to admit that I wasn't quite cut out to be a dancer."

Draco laughed and tried hard not to stumble on the uneven footing of the garden.

"I thought you only ever wanted to be an actor?"

"Well I thought about it and I do actually remember wanting to be a fireman. I used to run around the garden with the hose pretending to put out fires but Mother stopped me after I kept ruining the flowerbeds."

They had reached the marquee and Draco gratefully put the present down next to the others that were on the floor. His was easily the biggest and Draco wasn't sure if he should be happy about that or not.

"Oh, Draco, you really shouldn't have," said the boy's mother.

"It was my pleasure," Draco replied. Hermione quickly reintroduced everyone so that Draco didn't have to fret about the names of the women present.

"Come on, Draco, let's get you a drink," Hermione said and ushered him further down the tent.

She had just passed him a glass of wine when she stumbled forwards slightly and gasped. She turned to look behind her and laughed.

"Teddy, you little rascal! You nearly knocked me over!"

Draco heard the boy giggle before she hoisted him into her arms and Draco got the shock of his life.

Staring avidly back at him, was a miniature replica of…himself! The boy's hair was white-blond like his and gelled the way his normally was. A pair of sunglasses was placed on top of his head and he was wearing a small leather jacket and designer trousers.

"Happy Birthday, sweetie," said Hermione and she kissed him on the cheek.

"Yeuch," said Teddy as he wriggled himself out of her arms and forced himself onto Draco. Having never held a child before and still in shock, Draco just stood stock still as the little boy wrapped his arms round Draco's neck.

Hermione looked like she was trying not to laugh as she removed the glass of wine from Draco's hand. When he still didn't really respond, Hermione hit him gently on the arm. "Wish Teddy a Happy Birthday, Draco."

Draco looked sideways at the little boy whose face was only inches from his own and cleared his throat. "Happy Birthday, Teddy," he said with little conviction but that was enough for Teddy who jumped down to go and terrorise some other people.

"Well, Tonks said that Teddy wouldn't stop talking about you but I didn't realise that he'd idolised you!" laughed Hermione as she watched Teddy join the big group of people now that the men had come back from the field.

Teddy… wanted to be…him… when he was older. That just didn't sit right with Draco.

"-you ok, Draco?" he started as he realised that Hermione was talking to him.

"Yeah," he said slowly, "I'm fine."

Hermione didn't look convinced. "Shall we go to say hi to the others then?"

"Sure…"

He followed Hermione still slightly stupefied by Teddy's fancy dress choice. He really had never considered himself being a role model for kids and that made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

Most of the party guests had arrived by now and Teddy was surrounded by fellow children all dressed as various professions while the adults mingled around them. Hermione introduced him to a dumpy fellow called Neville Longbottom, dressed as a police officer, who was another of her old school friends. Draco was just getting over the shock now and doled out his normal, smooth charm.

They then saw Bill, dressed as a pirate, who was holding Pierre who was dressed as…

"A penguin?!" laughed Hermione when she saw the little boy.

"Yeah, I know!" Bill grinned back. "We've been asking him for a couple of weeks what he wants to be and all we get out of him is, 'penguin'!"

As he heard his dad say the word, the little boy's face lit up. "Penguin! Penguin! Penguin!" he cried.

"Your child is weird, mate," said Sirius the cowboy.

"I think it must run in the family," Bill laughed as he indicated an older red headed man who Draco assumed was Molly Weasley's husband. The man was wearing a magician's outfit and was trying, unsuccessfully, to perform magic tricks for the children.

There was a burst of laughter from behind the couple and they turned to see a chef and a pilot who Draco recognised as Hermione's best friends. The chef was laughing uproariously as he looked at her outfit.

"A ballerina?!" he choked out between laughs.

"You're such a lovely friend, Ron." Hermione said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, but it just seems so unlike you!" the redhead chuckled.

"Well, I'm not surprised that you're not a chef; you'd be too impatient for the food to cook!" she retorted, poking him in the tummy.

"Hey! I'm not that bad," Ron scowled.

"I think you look lovely, 'Mione," said the black haired one as he bent forwards to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, Harry" Hermione replied.

"You all right, Draco?" Harry asked as he shook the actor's hand.

"Yeah, I'm good thanks," he replied and then shook Ron's hand too.

There was a shout of, "Four!" and all four of them quickly ducked as a tennis ball whizzed over their heads.

"Oops, sorry about that," said one of the red headed twins who was dressed as a tennis player.

"Honestly, Fred! You've really got to work on your forearm," said the other twin, dressed identically to his brother.

"We could've been one of the best set of men's doubles players," sighed Fred. "The tennis coach said we were the most powerful hitters he had ever seen- shame about the accuracy though!"

The children all suddenly started making noises like American Indians and the adults all turned bewildered to see Harry's Dad, dressed as an Indian chief leading the cry.

"Oh, God," moaned Harry, "parents are _so_ embarrassing!"

Draco was very relieved to see Ginny and soldier Blaise walking across the lawn towards them and waved an arm in greeting. As he did so, Teddy's father- known for the day as Dr. Lupin, called for everybody's attention.

"It's time for the party to get under way everyone so if you'd all like to follow me and we'll get the first game under way!" The children cheered as did a couple of the adults.

"So, are you ready for this?" Hermione asked him.

Draco mentally sighed and nodded. 'Let the games begin," he thought dryly.

**

* * *

**

A/N

Hmmm that was quite a bit longer than I thought it was going to be! I was originally going to have the whole party for this chapter but if I had then this would've have been ridiculously long.

Just a couple of points- Heat magazine is not my invention but I could not be bothered to think of an interesting title for one of my own.

I really loved thinking of all the different careers for the characters and a couple of them are quite relevant to the actual HP characters such as Fred and George are beaters at Hogwarts so I thought they'd make quite good tennis players and if they play doubles then they could be together. Plus Harry loves flying although I'm sure it's not quite the same feeling when you're a pilot (my sis actually came up with that one not me!). I thought it would be ironic for Arthur, the muggle lover, to be interested in magic this time. Oh, and I have to thank WolfMusic for the suggestion of a penguin because it was just too hilarious and cute to leave out!

Oh, and the type of tutu that Hermione's wearing is a romantic one. I've put a link to a picture of one on my bio page.

The best news though is that I have already got half of the next chapter planned out cos it was going to be in this one! So hopefully it won't be too long til I speak to you guys again!

Only 5 reviews last time guys :( Let's aim for double figures!

Lots of love

Lil Drop Of Magic

xXxXxXx


End file.
